[ARG] Naval training and goodwill voyage - Europe

[HeadlessSeeker]

Private/Encrypted

After a full 10 minutes after being asked to hold off the Argentinian vessels would be granted permission to enter. They would find no issues in the approach to St. Petersburg, at least not from the Russians that is. Normally a ship would be sent out to greet the Argentinian vessels, however at this time the Baltic fleet was busy with preparations unknown to the Argentinians. Things were seemingly all quiet in Russian waters at this time.

Naio90

 

[Naio90]

Both argentine ships would enter russian territorial waters and head directly towards the port of St. Petersburg, where they would dock in the assigned spots. Due to the tensions in the Black Sea and near Romania, this was now to be expected a low profile visit.

Once everything was ready, the ARA General San Martin would open its doors to the general public and being its cultural and social events, including tours around the publicly accesible and non sensitive areas of the vessel.

The argentine crew would be very friendly towards the local population, and the officers would be ready to receive local authorities if they managed to show up despite the moved schedule they might heave.

HeadlessSeeker

 

[Connor]

CATFISH-1​

TOP SECRET
Strategic Defence Network
Through the entry into the Baltic Sea, particularly whilst traversing the Kattegat, the ship would be under intense scrutiny by a plethora of surveillance systems which remain littered throughout the Baltic Sea and to this day remain entirely protected by the Strategic Defence Network. The Baltic Sea is the most monitored body of water on the planet; covered by coastline maritime radar as well as sound surveillance systems which lay on the sea bed and analysed by the Swedish Armed Forces twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. With the littering of Spaningsradar 870 dotted throughout the Swedish coastline and the dusting of N/DAA-101 and N/DAA-102 modules throughout the entirety of the Baltic Sea and the Kattegat, it would be impossible to navigate anywhere within the Baltic without monitoring.

Nonetheless no risks were taken and although it were taken into account that the Argentine deployment were remaining within international waters, excluding whilst traversing the Kattegat and a significant portion of the Baltic Sea which remains within the Swedish EEZ, they would remain under the observation of the Strategic Defence Network.

Anticipating their direction of travel the ship on the presumed return, the deployment of a patrol Task Unit from the Port of Trelleborg to intercept and monitor the passing naval traffic was authorised although instructed not to make contact unless paramount to national security or in order to preserve life or prevent serious damage to property. This Task Unit was known as Task Unit Lima (TU-L) and made use of the callsign CATFISH; the Task Unit operates the CB90-Class Fast Assault Craft which remains armed with three Browning M2HB machine guns, one Mk19 grenade launcher and six depth charges, all of which were fully stocked with some spare ammunition onboard. The crafts are operated by a total of seven personnel each. All vessels, whilst camouflage, would wave the Swedish flag from the back of the vessel.

These vessels, CATFISH-1, CATFISH-2 and CATFISH-3 would continue to patrol the area around Bornholm awaiting the inevitable return of the Argentine ship. Refuelling as and when required. All surveillance systems would continue to be monitored for any movement from St Petersburg.

 

[HeadlessSeeker]

Private/Encrypted

The people of St. Petersburg came in droves curious about the foreign ship that had docked and been opened to the Public. Local Police and the Port Authority came to supervise the event and keep an eye out for suspect people. A Port Authority Official would request that the Argentinians do a full sweep of the ship before they left to make sure no one was stowed away and that there was no contraband. There was a suspicion that people may try to use this event for their own benefit.

Despite this, things seemed to go well as no one seemingly broke the rules and the St. Petersburg citizens stayed out of the sensitive areas. However half way into the event one of the sailors no doubt on guard would be approached by a man in a overcoat."Hola, tengo una proposición lucrativa." they would say in Spanish with a Russian accent.

Naio90

 

[Naio90]

With everything going according to schedule, the events would be carried out succesfully. The ships would depart from St. Petersburg and navigate directly to international waters, where they would follow the same route they used to get to Russia.

They would sail at cruising speed with all their sensors and systems active, closely monitoring nearby maritime and aerial traffic. The crew would begin to carry out some training drills on board, as well as launch the on-board Ka-27 helicopters to perform ASW training operations in the area. They would remain always on international waters and airspace. The helicopters would be fully crewed and with their sensors and radars active.

They would simulate a submarine search in the area. The ships would continue navigating, with the helicopters following them airborne.

All this would be done privately.

 

[Connor]

CATFISH-1​

TOP SECRET
Task Unit Lima
Following the departure of the Argentina vessel, this would be monitored through it's traverse of the Baltic Sea with use of the Swedish Defence Network, namely the submarine equipment which lay in situ and capable of monitoring all traffic on the surface. The premature deployment of Task Unit Lima proved a success as they would cautiously monitor and escort the Argentine vessel through the Baltic Sea, the Swedish EEZ, the Kattegat and into the North Sea. The progression through these waters would be done in such a way to ensure the integrity of spacing between vessels, the respect to the Argentine direction of travel and a show of rapid reaction capability from the Swedish Royal Navy.

CATFISH-1, the lead vessel in the deployment, would be tasked with the exhibiting of physical evidence which included but was not limited to the collation of markings on the vessel, personnel visualised, radio traffic, movements, photographs and identification of equipment on-board. All information would be relayed back to the Swedish Department of Defence and classified as 'SECURE' in line with the Swedish Document Classification and Security Act 1995.

Upon the conclusion of the escort Task Unit Lima would return to port.

 

[Naio90]

The ARA General San Martin and ARA Nicolas Avellaneda would both detect the approaching swedish patrol boats and be relieved to see that they were prudent enough to mantain a safe distance from the task forces navigation and training operations.

Both ships would proceed as planned, completing the ongoing drills and also using the opportunity to point the on-board aerial radars and sensors, including its Bell Thump ESM ELINT system to intercept any non-encrypted swedish communications in the area. This would include all verbal communications from the patrol boats to their headquarters, since as mentioned in post #26, they were only marked as "SECURE" once they were received at the Swedish Department of Defence. All photographic other documentation would however be impossible to be intercepted.

This would mean that the argentine ships would be aware of the patrol boats intelligence gathering operations. Nevertheless, they would continue their voyage as projected, keeping all gathered information privately.

Connor

 

[Connor]

CATFISH-1​

TOP SECRET
Task Unit Lima
Fortunately all presumed radio communication between vessels involved is encrypted as denoted by the 'TOP SECRET' classification appended the actions of the personnel, this is made in-line with the Document Classification and Security Act 1995 which restricts access to such material. The vessels would operate in a manner in-which it appeared to simply escort the Argentina ship through to the North Sea where it was no longer near to or at risk of being within Swedish territorial waters or Economic Exclusive Zone and as such would keep its operation discreet.

Upon return to port the vessels would receive their usual refuelling procedures and the crew would immediately disseminate their gathered information to appropriate analysts.

Naio90

 

[Naio90]

The vessels would continue as planned, crossing into the North Sea and heading south to cross the English Channel into the Atlantic Ocean. They would always travel on international waterways and not enter any territorial waters without express authorization. The helicopters would be parked away in their hangars, and the crew would continue with routine drills and on-board operations for the remainder of the journey. They would go the same route they used on their way to Europe, to get back to Argentina, continuing on fuel economy cruise speed.

A Berezina-Class Replenishment Ship would be deployed from Argentina (ARA Capricornio (A624) from Puerto Belgrano Naval Base) and dispatched on direct course towards the incoming ARA Nicolas Avellaneda and ARA General San Martin to provide replenishment in case necesary. The replenishment ship would use the same routes used by both military vessels.

After any necessary replenishment was done at the encounter point, all three ships would proceed to their homebases in Argentina.

Mission complete.