CANADA:Operation Veritas:
International Naval Response
CANADA:
Canada's military contribution to the war against terrorism includes a significant naval taskforce.
The deployment, codenamed Operation Apollo, began with the diversion of the patrol frigate HMCS Halifax (FFH 330) from NATO's Standing Naval Force Atlantic (STANAVFORLANT) to the Persian Gulf. She will be joined in the region by three more warships - the destroyer HMCS Iroquois (DDH 280), the frigate HMCS Charlottetown (FFH 339), and the supply ship HMCS Preserver (AOR 510) - all of which departed Halifax on October 17th.
HMCS Iroquois will serve as a command and control ship while HMCS Preserver will supply the task group with food, fuel and ammunition, in addition to providing medical facilities and helicopter maintenance and repair.
Another destroyer, HMS Vancouver (FFH 331), sailed from Esquimalt on October 29th to join a US carrier battlegroup in the region and a sixth vessel will replace HMCS Halifax and serve with STANAVFORLANT.
AUSTRALIA:
In the days following September 11th the United States requested that the Australian frigate HMAS Anzac (F150) remained in the Persian Gulf until at least September 23rd. The warship had been in the region helping to enforce UN sanctions against Iraq, and had scheduled to return home on September 16th.
On October 31st the frigate HMAS Sydney (F03) sailed from Darwin to relieve HMAS Anzac.
A larger task force consisting of the amphibious transport vessel HMAS Kanimbla (L51), which will serve as a command and control platform, and the frigate HMAS Adelaide (F01) left Fleet Base West on November 8th. A third and as of yet unnamed frigate will also sail to the region.
JAPAN:
Three Japanese warships - the destroyers Kirisame (DD 104) and Kurama (DDH 144) and the fleet support ship Hamana (AOE 424)- set sail from Sasebo on November 9th, bound for the Indian Ocean. They will undertake a reconnaissance mission in anticipation of a much larger naval deployment.
Some reports suggest Japan decided against sending a highly sophisticated AGEIS destroyer so as not to alarm other Asian nations such as China and South Korea, who have reservations about Japan expanding her military role.
Despite the fact that Japanese naval forces will only provide the US-led coalition with non-combative support, such as intelligence gathering, fuel and food, the deployment has caused considerable controversy in Japan. The Constitution drawn up after the Second World War forbids Japan from possessing military forces, other than those required for self-defence. This deployment marks the first time since 1945 that Japanese forces will be involved in supporting combat operations. In the past they have only ever undertaken humanitarian and peacekeeping missions.
Japan did agree to send minesweepers to the Persian Gulf in 1991, but only when the Gulf War was over.
ITALY:
Italy has deployed the aircraft carrier ITS Giuseppe Garibaldi (C551), two frigates and a supply ship to the Persian Gulf.
THE NETHERLANDS:
The Dutch have made three frigates, two minesweepers and a submarine available.
FRANCE:
The French have sent two naval vessels in the Arabian Gulf- the patrol frigate FS Courbet (F712) and the supply ship FS Var (A608). Their main role will be to provide logistical support to American and British warships already in the region.
Lionel Jospin, the French Prime Minister, announced on November 21st that the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle would be sent to the Indian Ocean in mid-December. Once in the region her main role would be to prevent Osama bin Laden and members of the al-Quaeda terrorist network escaping Afghanistan through Pakistan and across the Indian Ocean to countries like Somalia and Yemen.
Mr Jospin said other European nations had been invited to join the French Flagship in a taskforce that would provide a "European dimension" to the US-led war against terrorism.
This will be the first operational voyage for the 40,000-tonne Charles de Gaulle - Europe's only nuclear powered aircraft carrier - which has experienced a plague of technical, mechanical and design problems since entering service.
GERMANY:
Germany's military contribution to the war against terrorism will include naval forces.
Gerhart Schroeder has argued that his nation has a duty to standby the United States, given the support America gave to Germany following the Second World War. However, the deployment of German forces marks their biggest military operation since 1945 and has encountered some opposition from within the coalition Government itself.