[Australia]: Operation Mawson II

[Owen]

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OPERATION MAWSON II​

CLASSIFIED AND TOP SECRET​

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Objective:	Intelligence gathering in the Southern Ocean and Subantarctic Islands
Date:	12 August 1999 - 25 August 1999
Location:	Southern Ocean
Status:	Australian tactical victory. Intelligence gathered on Swedish military activities in the Territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands.

BELLIGERENTS​

Australia

Sweden

COMMANDERS AND LEADERS​

Kim Beazley (Prime Minister) John Faulkner (Minister for Defence) Admiral Chris Barrie (Chief of the Defence Force) Vice Admiral David Shackleton (Chief of Navy) Commander Richard Lindsey (Commander, HMAS Rankin)

Stefan Lofven (Prime Minister) Peter Hultqvist (Secretary of Defence)

STRENGTH​

Royal Australian Navy: Fleet Command: Australian Submarine Group: HMAS Rankin (58x Regular Personnel, 22x Mark 48 Mod 6 Advanced Capability Torpedoes, 2x SSE Decoys)

Royal Swedish Navy: 6x Oslo-class Frigates 7x Valour-class Frigates 4x Sa'ar 4-class Missile Boats 7x Svalbard-class Patrol Boats 1x Orion-class Surveillance Ship 2x Koster-class Mine Countermeasures Vessels 1x Etna-class Replenishment Oiler and Logistic Support Ship 4x Uta-class Submarines 1x Belos-class Submarine Rescue Ship

CASUALTIES AND LOSSES​

None

None

 

[Owen]

CLASSIFIED​

The new National Security Committee of Cabinet would hold their first meeting behind closed doors in the Cabinet Room of Parliament House. In attendance would be the Prime Minister, Kim Beazley, the Minister for Defence, John Faulkner, the Attorney-General, Nicola Roxon, the Minister for Home Affairs, Ros Kelly, the Deputy Prime Minister, Jenny Macklin, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Kevin Rudd and the Treasurer, Wayne Swan. This was the most serious organ of government. It is the only organ with the ability to decide on the use of the most extreme powers available to government, including to kill, capture or destroy. As such the National Security Committee, and ultimately the Prime Minister via the Governor-General through royal prerogative under Section 68 of the Constitution of Australia, has the power to deploy and use the Australian Defence Force in offensive operations without legislative authorisation. After hours of deliberation and talking about the current situation across the globe, with rising tensions between Australia and Sweden, the United States and Sweden, Mexico and Sweden, Korea and Sweden, nearly everyone and Sweden, the National Security Committee would make it a priority to make sure Australia was prepared for any situation in its immediate region and understood the military situation of Sweden in the Southern Ocean. As a result, an intelligence gathering mission was organised utilising the Collins-class submarines, formidable gatherers of intelligence.

At HMAS Platypus, the main submarine base which is located in the suburb of North Sydney on the banks of Neutral Harbour and is apart of the wider Fleet Base East complex covering Sydney Harbour, HMAS Rankin would begin being prepared. Their crew would begin preparing for a mission which was incredibly top secret and none of them have been allowed to tell their families, only that they were going on a training exercise. The only people who knew where the National Security Committee, the Chief of Navy, the Commander of the Australian Submarine Group, Fleet Commander Australia and the Chief and Vice Chief of the Defence Force. Most of the crew didn't even know where they were going, only the Commander and Lieutenant Commander of the submarine were aware of the patrol locations. The purpose of the deployment was to gather intelligence, a role that the crew of the Collins-class Submarines were well used to, in peacetime it was their primary purpose. It would however maintain its full complement of armanents in case the worst happened. The crew would begin packing up the ships in the dead of night, food and supplies were brought onboard along with 22 Mark 48 Mod 6 Advanced Capability Torpedoes and 2 SSE Decoys. There would be enough fuel and supplies to last 70 days, the submarines maximum endurance. The crew of the ship consisted of 58 personnel, a closeknit family of submariners consisting of weapons specialists, acoustics analysts, cooks, etc. It would consist of both men and women, as per Royal Australian Navy policy which allows female submariners.

HMAS Rankin would depart Sydney Harbour, head out of the Sydney heads while remaining surfaced and then it would submerge itself to periscope depth at a speed of 10 knots and head out into the Tasman Sea, heading south along the New South Wales south coast before transiting the Bass Strait and out into the Southern Ocean towards the Heard and McDonald Islands. It would take them on a route following: QF -> QE -> PE -> OE -> NE -> MD. The Commander would maintain a visual presence of the ocean via the periscope and the sonar analysts would monitor via the sonar systems. If the submarine detected any vessel their protocol would be to submerge to 200 feet, increase speed to 20 knots and reduce the noise level of the submarine to near nothing. The submarine would communicate via very low and extremely low frequency communications being sent to Naval Communications Station Harold E. Holt near Exmouth, Western Australia. This would include text and data but not audio due to the very low frequency nature of the communications making it impossible. All sensors and processing systems would be on.

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Connor

 

[Owen]

CLASSIFIED
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After 60 hours of transversing the Southern Ocean, HMAS Rankin would begin to approach Heard Island. The Commander would begin searching with his Thales CK043 search periscope, equipped with thermal imagers, image intensifiers and low-light television sensors. As the Submarine approached within 300km's range of Heard Island it would begin detecting HSwMS Zulu and HSwMS Xhosa on its Kelvin Hughes Type 1007 surface search radar (https://modernnations.com/threads/sweden-operation-sanbornite.20416/). They would calculate the distance of the vessels from them and draw their movements on a physical map.

"Sir, we have two ships on surface radar. Small in size. Not far off the coast of Heard Island."

"Got it, keep an eye on them."

As the Submarine continued to move through the Ocean, they would notice the Sa'ar 4-class missile boats would go off radar as they moved around the other side of Heard Island with the radar being blocked at some points by Mawson Peak. They would then re-appear and disappear again. They would analyse this as the vessels were circling Heard Island. All their tracks would be recorded. For the time being the vessels would be marked as unknown surface targets.

As the Submarine got within periscope range it would slow right down as to not cause any ripple effect in the water, essentially blending with the normal movement of the waves. It would change course and begin to circle the island. It would continue to track the Sa'ar 4-class missile boats to ensure it didn't cross paths with them or get too close to them that they noticed the periscope sticking out of the water. The Commander would take a few pictures of the missile boats with the periscope, getting images of key markings and details of the missile boats. He would immediately send these to the Naval Intelligence Officer onboard the submarine who would begin to analyse the images.

"They're both a Sa'ar 4-class missile boat. They wouldn't be able to detect us, there's no sonar on that thing." The Intelligence Officer would give his frankest assessment of the images.

"They are Swedish though." He would say looking at the markings and flags of the vessel.

"Cheers, send them back to Harman."

Harman being HMAS Harman, the Royal Australian Navy base on the outskirts of Canberra that serves as an intelligence and naval communications shore establishment. The data would be transmitted via very low frequency to Naval Communications Station Harold E. Holt where from there it would be sent to HMAS Harman. Naval Intelligence Officers at HMAS Harman would dissect the information and give their own analysis of the images. It would continue working its way through a chain of command, first to the Defence Intelligence Organisation and then on to the Office of National Intelligence, where there it would be prepared for presentation to the Prime Minister and National Security Committee.

The Commander would continue his scan of Heard Island, so far only the two vessels would be detected. He would turn his focus to the island itself, taking images of the island and any key features which may be of interest.

"Hello...." His eyes would suddenly be peeled to a section of the island which would have a small base there (presumably Atlas Cove, the only flat part of the island). (https://modernnations.com/threads/sweden-swedish-strategic-defence-network-v2.4036/)

"Patriot Missile." He would say, not even needing to send it to his intelligence officer it was that obvious what it was.

He would send the images to his intelligence officer.

"Yep that's a patriot, looks like an AN/FPS-77 radar as well, the ones that our Air Force is trying to acquire at the moment."

He would send those images also off to Harman, using the same protocol as described above. The submarine would begin to move away from Heard Island, heading west a little to McDonald Island. The Commander would look through his periscope at the island, take a few images of it and send them also off to Harman. Nothing was noticed on that island.

"Next stop then." The Submarine would begin to move away from the Islands, pick up speed back to 10 knots and head towards the Kerguelen Islands, taking transit route MD -> ME.

Connor

 

[Owen]

CLASSIFIED​

The Submarine would be about half way between Heard Island and the Kerguelen Islands before orders came through from the Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral David Shackleton, to return to base. The government believed they had enough intelligence to understand what was happening on Heard Island and to go collect intelligence from islands of no interest to Australia was pushing their luck a little. So far the Submarine had gone undetected and didn't want to blow its cover. HMAS Rankin would change course and would begin to head back towards Australia, out into the vast open Indian Ocean at periscope depth and 10 knots. It would take route: MD -> ME -> NE -> OE -> QF -> OE -> PE -> QE -> QF back around Tasmania, before heading up the New South Wales coast back to Sydney Harbour.

HMAS Rankin charging through the Sydney Heads.
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Connor

 

[Connor]

Operation Sanbornite
August 1999

Operation Sanbornite was the active Swedish South African and Antarctic Command operational order governing the task of regional patrols of Heard Island and McDonalds Islands following the risk to overseas territory posed by Australian interests. This mission encompassed the operation of only two Sa'ar 4-class Missile Boats in the region meaning the ability for Sweden to actively surveil territorial waters was limited, especially for submarine activity, however the operation was enacted as a show of regional ability rather than regional dominance. Throughout their activities local to Heard Island and McDonald Islands the Australian submarines would undoubtedly go undetected as the opportunity to spot a periscope at such a range in open waters would be next to impossible, or sheer luck, thus HSwMS Zulu and HSwMS Xhosa would continue their patrol none-the-wiser.

Activity on the islands themselves were primarily that of the Swedish Strategic Defence Network which did operate a Patriot Missile System and an AN/FPS-77 radar system. However, both of these systems remained camouflaged into the surroundings with the necessary highly-advanced anti-infrared camouflage provided by Saab Group. Not only would this make the position of the equipment extremely difficult to locate when there was no public indication of Swedish ever having had any physical involvement on the islands but if the equipment were detected the large majority of it would simply be disguised making it incredibly difficult for the Australian's, at such a range, to identify the specifics of the equipment on the land. Protruding from the camouflage netting would of course been the tubes of the Patriot Missile System but without closer inspection there would be no way to differentiate the visible infrastructure from any anti-air system on the planet with a similar design. If it were true that the Australians were actively procuring the AN/FPS-77, the unique design of the radar face would indeed allow them to identify it's specific model... but again this would rely on the chance of them having found the camouflaged isolated equipment, with no intelligence to support their location, in the first place.

Nonetheless, throughout their intelligence gathering operation, the Australian submarines would remain undetected, unhindered and uninterrupted through their activities. No information, data or communications would be intercepted and the activities of Operation Sanbornite would remain unchanged.

Owen