Papers in Australian Maritime Affairs: Presence, Power Projection and Sea Control: the RAN in the Gulf 1990-2009

Abstract

This volume is the proceedings of a seminar held in Canberra in 2003, updated to the present day, examining RAN planning for and operations in the Gulf from 1990 to 2009. This commitment, involving a wide range of tasks, became one of the longest and most complex ongoing operations ever undertaken by the Australian Defence Force. At the time of writing this had involved two conventional wars (three if counting the ‘war’ on terrorism), a wide variety of threats, thousands of personnel and a large portion of RAN major fleet units. Despite the scale and importance of the operations conducted, recognition of this extended campaign has received relatively scant media coverage and even less academic analysis. This volume details these naval operations, covering a broad range of aspects, the book encompasses strategic and operational planning, task group command, threats and warfare considerations, mine countermeasures and explosive ordnance disposal, multinational interception force operations, logistic and legal aspects, medical and personnel matters, and Operation CATALYST. The authors represent a broad spectrum of experience of the policy, planning and operational processes. They include officers who were task group commanders, commanding officers of ships and other units, as well as representatives from the major sectoral interests, such as aviation, clearance diving, legal, logistic, medical and pastoral.