Coast Guard flagship back in action

The operational status of the Nelson was confirmed yesterday by officials at the Ministry of National Security. However, officials declined to give an exact date for the TTS Nelson’s return to service, the time taken to repair it, or the cost to repair the vessel.

The Nelson was damaged in a collision with the inter-island ferry Windward II at the Port-of-Spain port on October 19, 2003. A report submitted to then national security minister Howard Chin Lee on October 23, 2003, indicated that the Nelson was berthed at the time of the collision. The report stated that due to the collision, "TTS Nelson in its present state is unseaworthy and is deemed unserviceable."

"The loss of the use of the Nelson may run into some months, which had been patrolling the (country’s) Exclusive Economic Zone , providing a training platform for sailors and carrying out some Caribbean taskings," the report added.

Ironically, the Nelson was due to be dry docked for maintenance at the time of the October 19, 2003 collision. Prior to that, the Nelson had undergone maintenance in 2001 in the United Kingdom before it sailed to TT to be added to the Coast Guard’s fleet. Then prime minister Basdeo Panday had declared that the Nelson would serve as the vanguard of the Coast Guard’s efforts to stem the activities of drug and gun smugglers operating in local waters.

Prior to and since the PNM’s return to office in 2001, Prime Minister Patrick Manning has criticised the former regime’s decision to purchase a 20-year-old frigate like the Nelson while allowing vessels such as the TTS Barracuda and TTS Cascadura to fall into disrepair. Noting that the Nelson had no commercial value, however, Manning said Government would repair the ship and return it to service.

The Nelson will be joined by three offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) which Government is now in the process of acquiring. Considered the cutting edge of naval technology, each OPV has helicopter and interceptor capabilities and can carry an amphibious assault team of 150 soldiers. During the 2003/2004 Budget debate in Parliament on October 10, 2003, Chin Lee said the OPVs meant "more sustained surveillance of our territorial waters and increased maritime law enforcement capability." The OPVs and the Nelson will be based at an upgraded Coast Guard base at Staubles Bay.

The Government is also moving to acquire six fast inshore patrol boats and armed helicopters to bolster TT’s border security. The Prime Minister recently announced that an Israeli coastal radar system to provide "total coverage" of the nation’s coastlines would be fully operational by the end of September. The National Security Ministry is expected to receive a significant financial allocation in the 2005/2006 Budget of at least $31 billion which is tentatively scheduled to be presented in Parliament on September 5. The ministries of health, education, works and transport and science, technology and tertiary education are also expected to receive significant financial allocations in the Budget.