United States | Dispatch to Australia

[Odinson]

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COMMANDER OF FRIGATE SQUADRON ONE​

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ENCRYPTED MESSAGE​

TO: Rear Admiral Katherine Richards, Commander of Australian Navy Fleet Command ( Owen )
FROM: Captain Leon Price USN, Commander of Frigate Squadron One

Rear Admiral Richards,

My team and I are currently planning a patrol mission for Frigate Squadron One that includes an armed patrol in international waters, as well as in Australian waters, focused mostly in the Great Australian Bight and other waters south of Australia. This patrol is not in response to any international events or due to an increase in readiness, but instead is meant to be a show of force and a visible action by the American Navy to show our commitment to the defensive relationship between our two countries. If there are any disturbances or issues to the south of Australia throughout the duration of our mission, please feel free to contact me directly and I will have the forces under my command assist in any way possible.

Also, when I am planning operations like this in the future I am happy to contact you directly, but if there is someone under your command in Australia who you would refer that I reach out to for things like this please let me know.

Very respectfully,

Leon Price
Captain USN, Commander of Frigate Squadron One
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[Owen]

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COMMANDER AUSTRALIAN FLEET​

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION: TOP SECRET​

10 June 2008

Dear Captain Price, This is perfectly fine, our defensive posture is not focused southwards but rather northwards towards Asia, so there is little activity that happens to the south of Australia. It's a relatively peaceful part of the world and is not congested like the waters to our north or has neighbouring nations. We don't operate any Royal Australian Navy assets in that direction of Australia under Operation RESOLUTE. Because of that, I think it would be more likely that the United States Navy on your patrol would be alerting us to possible disturbances in that direction. We also don't have active primary naval bases on the southern coast of Australia. There are depots for naval reserves, including personnel, fuel and bulk supplies located at Port Adelaide, the Port of Hobart and Port Melbourne and these are freely available to you. Please ensure you follow the directions of the respective civilian harbourmasters in those ports. There is also an officer training base at HMAS Cerberus in the Western Port Bay of Victoria but there is limited docking facilities there. Just to clarify, is this a patrol beginning at HMAS Stirling and ending at HMAS Stirling and where exactly do you plan on going on this intended route? I'm trying to ascertain whether or not you plan on going through the Bass Strait or around the southern end of Tasmania and where exactly you plan on turning around to go back to HMAS Stirling? Yours sincerely, Rear Admiral Katherine Richards.

HMAS Kuttabul, SYDNEY, NSW 2011 Telephone: (02) 6277 7700​

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