Royal Navy Submarine Joins MH-370 Search

Perhaps the last,best hope of the MH-370 search is the Royal Navy nuclear submarine HMS Tireless(S88).The Tireless brings to bear the most advanced sonar technology to scan the depths of the Indian Ocean for wreckage of the near-hopelessly lost airliner.Launched in 1984,she is one of five Trafalgar class subs still in Service.She was the third of her class and was built by Vickers at Barrow,according to the Royal Navy.
HMS Tireless underwent an extensive overhaul of her propulsion,weapons systems and sensors.She was deployed to the Middle East in 2010 for 11 months in support of British interests in the region.With 130 personnel,the refurbished Cold War era attack sub will use advanced sonar to add a new dimension to the search,and is already at work in the search area.
With 130 personnel,Tireless is 85.4 meters in length,and has a beam of 9.8 meters.She has a top speed of 32 knots.Her commanding officer is Commander Hywel Griffiths.Educated by the monks of Belmont Abbey,Hereford and in Sixth Form College,Winchester,he joined the RN in 1992 and had initial training appointments in HMS Brilliant,HMS Walney and HMS Avenger.CDR Griffiths volunteered for Service in submarines in 1994 and previously served in HMS Vengeance and HMS Talent,as well as in the Directorate of Navy Resources and Plans in the UK Ministry of Defence.He is a fan of the Welsh rugby team,as well as a surfer and a skier when he has the time.*
On the way to the Indian Ocean from Europe to aid in the search for the aircraft's black boxes and debris is the Royal Navy warship HMS Echo(H87),a multirole hydrographic survey ship that can collect an array of military hydrographic and oceanographic data,but is also equipped for mine warfare and amphibious operations.She carries a small detachment of Royal Marines,the RN says.The Echo packs an impressive array of force protection weapons while improving seafarers' charts for the UK Hydrographic Office.*
The search could drag on for a long time,warned retired Air Chief Marshall Angus Houston,head of the Joint Interagency Coordination Centre in Perth,Australia.It's not something that's going to be resolved in the next few weeks.Still,CNN Perth correspondent Kyung Lah described the search crews as being cheery and seeming to be on task.They are very determined.This is special to them as they all have families and can relate to the mission.

Special Intelligence Report:Inside Iran

Iranian authorities have asked some 1.5 million residents of the city of Isfahan to leave the city if they can because of dangerous air pollution.The air quality is not expected to improve for another two days.
Pollution has been particularly bad this year because of the cold,which traps polluted air near the ground unless winds blow it away;millions of cars on the roads of the city that lacks mass transit;and the use of diesel cars spewing untreated carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
With Western sanctions ratcheted up on Iran for failing to halt its suspected nuclear weapons development program,Iran has been forced to convert petrochemical plants into refineries that lack adequate pollution controls.Isfahan is an old,picturesque city of tiled mosques and minarets blanketed with smog.
A year ago,the World Health Organisation listed four Iranian cities on its list of the ten worst polluted cities in the world.
In another development,Iran has been conducting five days of naval maneuvers,Velayat-91,near the strategically significant Strait of Hormuz,through which one fifth of the world's oil supply passes.According to the semi-official Mehr news agency,military spokesman Admiral Amir Rastgari claimed that Iran issued 30 warnings to foreign spy planes,drones and warships approaching the maneuvers,and that the reconnaissance assets distanced themselves from the activity in response.
The naval exercises involved the firing of the new Ghader anti-ship cruise missile,a sea-skimmer with a range of 120 miles/200 kilometers.The Ghader,or "Capable,"was delivered in late 2011.Both the Iranian navy and Revolutionary Guard navy have the weapon in their arsenals.It is claimed to be able to sink large warships.
The Noor anti-ship missile was also fired during the exercises.Video showed the missiles hitting target vessels.The maneuvers took place in an approximately one million square mile area extending from the Strait of Hormuz to the Northern Indian Ocean.

Pirate Attacks Ramp Up

Pirate activity in the Indian Ocean is keeping warships busy.In one recent incident,a U.S. Navy frigate,the USS Nicholas(FFG47)was fired on by a pirate skiff and responded with a 50-caliber machine gun,sinking the skiff.Sailors arrested three pirates from the skiff and two more on the mother ship.This occurred near the Seychelles islands,far from the pirates' customary range.The Nicholas has a speed of 29 knots.
In another encounter,the USS Farragut(DDG99),an Arleigh Burke class destroyer,arrested 11 more pirates.These pirates had to be released,as Kenya had no more room in its jails.The Farragut has a speed of 30+ knots.A South Korean warship also began pursuing pirates.The pirates had seized an oil tanker with more than 100 million dollars' worth of oil on board.

Who The Pirates Are

Somali pirates have struck again in the Gulf of Aden,seizing two more merchant vessels and taking 45 crew hostage.That brings this year's total to 324 attacks on 37 ships with 8639 hostages.Warships from more than 12 countries,including the U.S.,U.K.,France,Netherlands,Russia,China and India have had sporadic success combating the pirates,but for the most part have only pushed them out into the far reaches of the Indian Ocean to ply their trade.
There are an estimated 1200 Somali pirates.Among them are many ex-fishermen and warlord militiamen,lending useful expertise to their criminal enterprise.The Somali government wants the millions spent on naval patrols to be spent on inland poverty as well,which they think is the root of the problem.The pirates are reaping millions of dollars in ransom with their dangerous escapades at sea.Once monsoon season lets up,they are able to begin another cycle of plunder in their small boats.Their latest victims are the British chemical tanker St.James Park and a Panamanian cargo ship.

Navy Photos Show Cargo

U.S. Navy photos depict a cargo of what is apparently three million dollars in ransom,dropping by parachute onto a Saudi oil tanker that pirates have held since 15 November,2008.A negotiator told The Associated Press the Somali pirates had released the ship in exchange for the money.The pirates had originally demanded 25 million for the ship and its two million barrels of oil,which was worth about 100 million dollars.The tanker had been taken more than 500 miles,or 804.65 km,out to sea in the Indian Ocean.This was despite the patrols of warships in the region.Although the security effort has been stepped up,with ships from the U.S.,U.K.,Germany,France,India and China now participating,it is unlikely maritime patrols alone can stop all,or even most,of the pirates.There are too many pirates with too many weapons for that.Only a stable Somalia with good economic prospects can ultimately solve the problem,and those conditions are nowhere in sight.

Possible Militant Drugs Stopped

The U.S. Navy and U.K. forces have seized more than 20 tons of drugs on a hashish highway through the Indian Ocean.Since October,100 million dollars' worth of drugs have been halted.These could have funded Afghan militants.The drugs were seized in the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden,where there have been many Somali pirate attacks.U.S. Fifth Fleet spokesman Lt.Nathan Christensen declined to say where the drugs came from,but noted that many of the narcotics stopped along the route are going to and from Afghanistan and Pakistan.