RESTON, Va. — Rolls-Royce has secured recent agreements with the U.S. Navy for ship engines, propulsion components and services valued at up to $115.6 million, the company said in a June 24 release. 

“Rolls-Royce is proud to support the U.S. Navy through an extensive portfolio of engines and propulsion system components, as well as service agreements,” said Leo Martins, program director of U.S. Naval & Coast Guard Platforms at Rolls-Royce Defense. “Rolls-Royce propulsion equipment is in service around the globe on nearly all U.S. Navy ships and the new agreements reflect continued confidence from the Navy in Rolls-Royce products.” 

The engine contract, for $34.4 million, is a follow-on production agreement for 16 new MT7 gas-turbine engines for Navy ship-to-shore connector landing craft. Rolls-Royce is the exclusive provider of gas-turbine engines installed on the landing craft, which is produced by Textron. The MT7 engine is produced in Indianapolis in the U.S. and is a variant of the Rolls-Royce AE 1107C engine powering V-22 aircraft and a member of the proven and reliable Rolls-Royce AE family of engines. 

The propulsion components contract, valued at $10.9 million, will include production of main propulsion monobloc propellers, propeller hubs, blades and other components. The ship components will be produced at Rolls-Royce facilities in Walpole, Massachusetts.  

The services agreement, valued at up to $70.3 million, covers maintenance and repair services of controllable pitch propeller hubs and oil distribution boxes for multiple Navy ship classes including DDG 51 destroyers. The ship components will be serviced at Rolls-Royce facilities in Walpole and work is expected to be completed in 2026. 

Rolls-Royce is nearing completion of $400 million in improvements in its advanced manufacturing capabilities in Indianapolis as part of a total $600 million investment program announced in 2015. Rolls-Royce is also investing in upgrades in Walpole to enhance production and service facilities.

ARABIAN SEA — As of June 25, the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and its escort ship, the guided-missile cruiser USS San Jacinto, have been continuously at sea for 161 days, setting a new record for the U.S. Navy, Carrier Strike Group 10 said in a release. 

Both ships departed their homeport of Norfolk, Virginia, on Jan. 17, for the strike group’s composite training unit exercise (COMPTUEX) and follow-on deployment to the U.S. 6th and 5th Fleet areas of operation.  

Although Naval History and Heritage Command does not track continuous days underway for naval vessels, it has two modern documented days-at-sea records, both of which are now broken.  

In February 2002, the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt operated for 160 days straight in support of post-9/11 response. And it was again the Ike that held the record of 152 straight days underway during the Iran hostage crisis in 1980. 

“Our ships remain undeterred in the face of adversity and this monumental feat will only make our crews and the Navy stronger,” said Capt. Kyle Higgins, the Ike’s commanding officer. “I’m so proud of the young men and women I see on the deck plates each and every day. Their dedication to the mission is what makes our Navy the greatest fighting force the world has ever seen.” 

Due to the novel coronavirus, Ike and its accompanying strike group have remained at sea to minimize the crews’ exposure to COVID-19.  

“In March, I suspended liberty port visits to reduce the chance of spreading and contracting the virus across the fleet,” said Vice Adm. Jim Malloy, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, U.S. 5th Fleet, and Combined Maritime.  “Throughout this pandemic, maintaining the fleet’s warfighting readiness while ensuring the safety and well-being of our Sailors has been my top priority.” 

Both the Ike and the San Jacinto’s crews have maintained mission readiness and effectiveness despite restrictions related to COVID-19. 

“San Jacinto and Eisenhower have proven their ability to remain a flexible, adaptable and persistent force while staying on station in the Arabian Sea,” said Capt. Edward Crossman, commanding officer of the San Jacinto. “Both crews have been resupplying and refueling, performing repairs and upkeep, and maintaining overall readiness while continuously at sea. The two ships have spent the last five months conducting operations and exercises with foreign partners, other U.S. service branches, and U.S Navy ships in the region.” 

The ships also participated in a “rest and reset” period at sea, coming off-station for a short period of time to allow the crew to relax and reenergize with morale events such as swim calls and steel beach picnics.  

While all deployments bring challenges, especially ones of record-breaking duration, they also bond Sailors together through shared memories that last a lifetime. 

“We’ve made it this far and I’m incredibly proud of the crew for all their hard work,” Crossman said. “The fact of the matter is our work isn’t done. We aren’t headed home yet, and we’re on path to blow the previous record out of the water. The San Jacinto Gunslingers are the most motivated, professional Sailors I have ever served with.” 

“San Jacinto and Eisenhower have proven their ability to remain a flexible, adaptable and persistent force while staying on station in the Arabian Sea.”

Capt. Edward Crossman, commanding officer of the San Jacinto

The Ike and San Jacinto remain at sea, deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operation in support of naval operations to ensure maritime stability and security in the Central Region, connecting the Mediterranean and Pacific through the Western Indian Ocean and three critical chokepoints for the free flow of global commerce. 

“Ike and San Jacinto, along with the rest of the Ike CSG, have continued to stand the watch in this critical region of the world, conducting routine operations and maintaining constant readiness and I couldn’t be prouder,” Malloy said. 

An interesting fact, the first USS San Jacinto was also underway during a yellow fever epidemic during the Civil War. On May 5, 1862, under the orders of President Lincoln, that San Jacinto and other Union warships bombarded Sewell’s Point, Virginia. On August 1, 1862, it was reported that yellow fever had broken out on the ship, so San Jacinto sailed north, laid anchor and quarantined for four months.

ARLINGTON, Va. — Capt. Brett Crozier, the former skipper of the first U.S. Navy warship to suffer a novel coronavirus outbreak at sea, wasn’t restored to command last week as many had expected following a weeks-long investigation, but the detailed report on the affair spreads fault to other officers as well in the response to the outbreak that infected hundreds, hospitalized several and killed one Sailor.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday and new Navy Secretary Kenneth J. Braithwaite announced the decision on June 19 at a Pentagon press briefing on the results of the USS Theodore Roosevelt Command Investigation, which was begun April 2, the day Crozier was fired. The probe was conducted by Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Robert Burke.

That day, Gilday said he would not reassign Crozier as the commanding officer of the nuclear aircraft carrier, “nor will he be eligible for future command. Capt. Crozier will be reassigned.”

Gilday also said the promotion of Crozier’s immediate superior, Rear Adm. Stuart Baker, commander of the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group, to a second star was being put on hold “pending further review.”

The investigation’s 81-page report also faults the actions of the carrier’s air wing commander and the TR’s medical officer during the outbreak. Gilday said those officers would be subject to administrative action by Adm. John Aquilino, the Pacific Fleet’s commander. Gilday also criticized a breakdown in communications with the U.S. 7th Fleet staff, leading to mistrust among the Theodore Roosevelt’s leadership.

The investigation also ruled out resupply flights to the carrier from the Philippines as the source of the COVID-19 outbreak aboard, leading officials to conclude the ship’s port visit to Da Nang, Vietnam, likely was the cause of infection among crew members.

However, both Gilday and the report took pains to explain why no one — including commanders of the Pacific Fleet and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command — was disciplined for ordering a port call to a country where dozens of COVID-19 cases had been reported.

The cases were all in the Hanoi area, 450 miles north of Da Nang, and both the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization advised Navy planners that Vietnam was — and remains — transparent and reliable in its outbreak reporting.

Also, several precautionary measures were taken, including briefing the TR’s crew to the risks, checking their symptoms before they left the ship and upon their return, Gilday said. Only locations approved by the State Department could be visited and crew members were not allowed to buy food in port. “Based upon the pre-event risk analysis, the decision to execute the Da Nang port visit was appropriate,” the report concluded, adding: “The visit was executed with sensible precautions, based on the world’s understanding of COVID-19 at the time.”

Braithwaite, who took office just a month ago, said he fully supported the report’s findings and recommendations. He also said he had received “no communication whatsoever with anybody at the White House” and had discussed the controversial decision not to reinstate Crozier only up the chain of command to Defense Secretary Mark Esper.

The 81-page report may not be the end of the saga, however.

The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), said his committee will launch an investigation into the Theodore Roosevelt’s COVID-19 outbreak “in order to better understand the full range of mistakes that were made throughout the entire chain of command.”

Gilday’s Change of Heart on Crozier

Gilday conceded that he previously believed Crozier should be reinstated after conducting an initial investigation following the captain’s removal, but that a wider investigation had a much deeper scope.

“It is my belief that both Admiral Baker and Capt. Crozier fell well short of what we expect of those in command,” he said at the June 19 briefing.

“Had I known then what I know today, I would not have made that recommendation to reinstate Capt. Crozier. Moreover, if Capt. Crozier were still in command today, I would be relieving him,” Gilday added.

Gilday’s mind was changed, he said, by the investigation’s conclusion that the carrier’s captain and the strike force commander “did not do enough, soon enough” to prevent the spread of COVID-19 aboard the Theodore Roosevelt.

Missteps included not enforcing physical distancing in many public areas of the carrier once crew began testing positive and releasing quarantined crew from the carrier’s aft section to ease crowding conditions.

The 81-page report may not be the end of the story. The House Armed Services Committee will launch its own probe into the outbreak.

Once portside in Guam, Crozier did not “forcefully and expeditiously execute the best possible and available plan” for evacuating the ship’s crew.
Instead, Gilday maintained, Crozier focused on obtaining single-room occupancy hotel rooms with separate bathrooms, in compliance with CDC recommendations, rather than moving crew to hundreds of beds spaced 6 feet apart in Naval Base Guam facilities as well as unoccupied hotel rooms and barracks on base and ships in port with extra berth space.

Crozier was relieved of command April 2 by then acting Navy Secretary Thomas B. Modly after a March 30 letter that Crozier wrote to top Navy officers and fellow naval aviators, pleading for faster intervention from his superiors to assist his crew, was leaked to a San Francisco newspaper.

In the letter, which was sent, unencrypted, via e-mail, Crozier expressed alarm over the slow pace of disembarking his crew at Naval Base Guam while the virus spread rapidly on the ship. Publication of the letter in the San Francisco Chronicle sparked an outcry and worldwide media attention over the captain’s actions and the fate of the carrier’s crew.

The decision not to reassign Crozier to command either afloat or ashore was not based on the letter nor its contents, Gilday said. Rather, the investigation found it was unnecessary because higher commands were already responding to Crozier’s requests to find sufficient places to lodge crew members on Guam.

A deal brokered by Guam’s Gov. Lou Guerrero to place thousands of Sailors in hotels there was closed six hours before Crozier sent his letter. Not only did the letter not speed up the crew disembarkation, the tone caused problems for Guerrero, whose constituents feared depositing thousands of Sailors and Marines, many of whom might have been infected, on Guam.

Gilday said Crozier did not have his facts straight when he sent his letter up the chain of command and confused the situation by skipping over the 7th Fleet.

Pressed by reporters asking if Crozier was being held to a higher standard than the commanders who authorized the TR’s stop in Vietnam, Gilday said he didn’t think so.

“If I take a look at what Crozier was dealing with and yes, we had a lot of questions at that time about the transmission of asymptomatic cases,” Gilday said, adding “[but] we surely knew that we were in a better place getting those people off the ship. So even given what we didn’t understand about COVID, we understood that.”

Eventually, 1,100 of the Theodore Roosevelt’s nearly 5,000 crew members — including Crozier himself — tested positive for COVID-19. Only a fraction required hospitalization, but one Sailor, Aviation Ordnanceman CPO Charles Thacker Jr., did succumb to the virus.

TR Affair Forces Examination of Pacific Fleet Chain of Command

Crozier was hailed as a hero by his crew — who were seen on video cheering for him as he departed the ship in Guam — while others criticized the captain for circumventing the chain of command.

Modly said at the time that Crozier was not fired in retaliation for his letter but because the secretary had lost confidence in the captain’s leadership. Crozier, Modly said, had allowed the complexity of the COVID-19 challenge “to overwhelm his ability to act professionally, when acting professionally was what was needed.”

However, Modly complicated matters by flying to Guam to defend his actions in an April 6 profanity-laced address to the TR’s crew. Modly called Crozier “too naive or too stupid to be the commanding officer of a ship like this,” according transcripts of the Navy secretary’s remarks made by several crew members. Less than 24 hours after the speech, Modly issued an apology to Crozier, the Theodore Roosevelt’s crew and the Navy, and offered his resignation to Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who accepted it.

Gilday directed Burke to investigate the circumstances and climate of the entire Pacific Fleet affecting the chain of command. Previously, Gilday spoke of “a potential comms breakdown, wherever it occurred,” adding: “We’re not looking to shoot the messenger here, we want to get this right.”

The completed initial report was delivered April 24 to Modly’s replacement, acting Navy Secretary James McPherson, who directed Gilday to conduct the second probe, saying he had “unanswered questions that the preliminary inquiry has identified and that can only be answered by a deeper review.”

COVID-19 was detected on board the aircraft carrier in late March, 15 days after the TR made the Da Nang port visit. Stopping at Guam for a scheduled visit on March 27, Crozier began disembarking crew as the number of Sailors testing positive for the virus continued to rise. Finding suitable accommodations for thousands of personnel on the island was a slow process.

In his letter, Crozier said the carrier had inadequate space to isolate or quarantine Sailors. “We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die,” he wrote. “If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset — our Sailors.”

Testing the entire crew for COVID-19 was completed in mid-May. They began returning to the carrier in waves after 14 days of isolation and after twice testing negative for the virus. Despite those efforts, at least 14 returning Sailors tested positive again for COVID-19. Following a bow-to-stern deep-cleaning process by about 700 crew members and recertifying aviation activities for its Carrier Air Wing 11, the carrier left Guam and resumed it mission on June 4.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The admiral in command of U.S. Naval Force in Europe and Africa said the U.S. Navy and other NATO naval forces need to extend operations in the North Atlantic to ensure the security of Europe and North America. 

“We’ve entered what I call the Fourth Battle of the Atlantic,” said Adm. James Foggo III, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Europe/Africa, speaking June 25 in a webinar sponsored by the International Institute of Strategic Studies, a U.K.-based think tank. 

Foggo, soon to complete his assignment in Europe, pointed to the increased Russian submarine activity in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea and the increasing Russian and Chinese activity in the Arctic regions as a rising threat in an era of Great Power Competition. 

He noted the deployment of 10 Russian submarines simultaneously in the North Atlantic in October 2019 — detected by Norwegian forces — and the Russian construction of an icebreaker armed with the Kalibr cruise missile.  

Foggo said that NATO still has a competitive advantage over Russia but that advantage is under increasing challenge. He noted Russia is fielding an array of new submarine classes. 

The admiral said that Russian forces have reopened some old Cold War Soviet bases in the Arctic and have deployed the S-400 surface-to-air missile system in the region. 

“NATO needs to be able to operate in the far north,” Foggo said, noting the recent NATO surface action group that operated in the Barents Sea and the October 2018 operation of the USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group, the first carrier strike group to operate above the Arctic Circle in two decades. 

“As for the seas in the high north, you can expect to see us operating there and ensuring freedom of the seas and adherence to international norms and customs again and again,” he said. 

“We need to look at new and innovative approaches to the Arctic,” he said, noting that Russia is not a member of the Newport Arctic Scholars Initiative — representing seven of the eight Arctic nations — at the Naval War College but should be. “We all benefit when we engage in dialogue — deter, defend, and dialogue.” 

Foggo said the Newport group is trying to restart the Arctic Chiefs of Defense meetings, “establishing an Arctic maritime symposium to bring together key stakeholders in the region’s navies and coast guards to better understand the challenges of the regions.” 

He said a Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES), similar to the Incidents at Sea agreement and the 2014 CUES in the Far East, should be implemented in the Arctic to reduce escalatory mistakes.  

“Russia has the right to defend itself and protect its interests, but it needs to exercise that right in accordance with international norms, customs and traditions,” Foggo said. “What I’ve seen from them so far give me pause. Russia already is attempting to use the rules of the Northern Sea Route to violate international maritime laws and protocols.” 

He also said that “lest we forget, China also is seeking to exploit the Arctic. They are eying investment opportunities that range from natural resource exploitation to future commercial maritime traffic potential of the ‘Polar Silk Road.’ With China having its own precedent for making bogus claims over international waterways in the South China Sea, it’s possible that China will also seek to bend the rules in their favor in the Arctic.”   

Russia also has increased naval activity in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean in recent years, particularly in support of Syria in the latter case. Syrian-based Russian jet fighters have harassed U.S. Navy P-8A maritime patrol aircraft. The Kalibr cruise missiles that arm the Russian Kilo-class submarines are capable of striking any capital city in Europe. Russia also has deployed fighter aircraft in Libya, which is in the throes of civil war.

NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, Md. — The CH-53K King Stallion completed a two-week period of sea trials in the Atlantic earlier this month, the Naval Air Systems Command said in a June 24 release. This was the first opportunity to see the aircraft working in a modern naval environment. 

Testing took place on the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp.  

“I’m very pleased with how the ship tests went,” said Col. Jack Perrin, H-53 helicopters program manager. “We were able to assess the K taking off and landing day, night and with night-vision goggles, and it performed extremely well.” 

According to the CH-53K integrated test team, the sea trials are a series of tests to evaluate the performance of the aircraft at sea. Tests performed during the two weeks included: launch and recovery; rotor start and shutdown; blade fold; and shipboard compatibility testing — all in increasing wind speed and varying wind directions relative to the aircraft. 

“The bulk of the testing was in launch and recovery,” said Perrin, “and we nailed it every time, no matter what the wind/sea conditions were. The 53K is now a ‘feet-wet’ warrior from the sea.”  

Ship compatibility testing includes towing the aircraft around the deck and in the hangar, performing maintenance while aboard the ship, ensuring the aircraft fits in all the locations it needs to around the ship deck and hangar, and evaluating chain/tie-down procedures.  

The CH-53K King Stallion continues to execute within the reprogrammed CH-53K timeline, moving toward completion of developmental test, leading to initial operational test and evaluation in 2021 and first fleet deployment in 2023-2024. 

EVENDALE, Ohio — GE Marine has received a contract from Sefine Shipyard to provide two LM2500 marine gas turbines to power the Turkish Naval Forces’ new fleet replenishment ship, GE said in a release. 

Known as the DIMDEG project, this new-generation ship will satisfy the fuel, water transport and supply needs of Turkey’s surface combatants in the open seas around the world. 

“The LM2500 is GE’s most popular marine gas turbine and we are excited it was selected for the DIMDEG project,” said Kris Shepherd, vice president and general manager, GE Marine. “The powerful LM2500 brings quick start capabilities, easy on-board maintenance, and an outstanding worldwide fleet performance of greater than 99% reliability and more than 98% availability.” 

GE has long been a trusted supplier to the Turkish Naval Forces. In fact, all four of Turkey’s Ada-class MILGEM multipurpose corvettes are powered by a GE LM2500 and two diesel engines in a combined diesel and gas turbine configuration. Total propulsion power is 31,000 kilowatts, allowing each ship to reach maximum speed in excess of 29 knots. Each corvette has an overall length of 99 meters with a displacement of 2,300 tons. Additionally, 24 LM2500s operate aboard the Turkish Navy’s Barbaros- and Gabya-class frigates. 

With a GE gas turbine, navies have worldwide support whether onshore or at sea, and interoperability benefits with other allied ships. GE has delivered gas turbines onboard 646 naval ships serving 35 navies worldwide and provides 97% of the commissioned propulsion gas turbines in the United States Navy fleet. With GE’s split casing compressor and power turbine design, in-situ maintenance is allowed, often making a gas turbine removal unnecessary; navies save millions of dollars a year and weeks/months of ship unavailability. 

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The Coast Guard Cutter Vigilant crew returned home to Cape Canaveral on June 24 following a 40-day counter-drug patrol in the western Caribbean, the Coast Guard 7th District said in a release. 

During their patrol, the Vigilant’s crew participated in a four-day multinational counter narcotics joint operation with the Honduran armed forces and later worked with the Colombian navy in the interdictions of three suspected drug-smuggling vessels around the Colombian Basin. 

The cutter was augmented by a Coast Guard Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron armed helicopter crew capable of disabling drug-smuggling vessels. The aircrew assisted in the interdiction of two suspected drug-smuggling vessels in a period of less than 24 hours, which resulted in interdiction of about 6,800 pounds of cocaine with an estimated wholesale value of $118.3 million. 

The Vigilant’s patrol efforts were in direct support of the president’s enhanced counter-narcotics surge announced in early April. The U.S. Coast Guard, working with U.S. Southern Command, began this surge effort in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, putting increased pressure on the drug trafficking organizations operating in Central and South America. 

Before returning home, the crew conducted the narcotics offload in Port Everglades, Florida, on June 23.  

The Vigilant is a 210-foot medium-endurance cutter. The cutter crew’s primary missions include search and rescue, illegal drug interdictions, alien migrant interdictions ensuring safety of life at sea and enforcing international and domestic maritime laws. 

BELOIT, Wis. – Fairbanks Morse has been awarded a purchase order by Huntington Ingalls Industries to build and deliver the four main propulsion diesel engines that will power the U.S. Navy’s newest landing platform/dock (LPD) ship, LPD 31, Fairbanks Morse said in a release. The ship is the second of 13 in the LPD Flight II class of ships. 

“We are proud to carry on our tradition of supplying the U.S. Navy with the critical components of our fleet,” said George Whittier, CEO of Fairbanks Morse. 

“We make every engine with care, knowing that our service members rely on them to perform their duty. The LPD Flight II ships will be a critical part of the Navy’s expeditionary warfare mission set, which includes opposed landings, and we take great pride in making engines that may go in harm’s way.” 

Based on the existing San Antonio-class hull, the LPD Flight II design has been modified with several additional features including an improved flight deck, a well deck, hospital facilities and defensive features. The LPD Flight II ships also have sufficient vehicle and cargo capacities to support and sustain more than 500 combat-equipped Marines for up to 30 days. 

The four sequentially turbocharged 16-cylinder FM | Colt-Pielstick PC 2.5 diesel engines feature common rail fuel injection technology and will deliver over 31 MW of propulsion power. The common rail system technology uses a high-pressure fuel header, high-pressure pumps, electronically controlled fuel delivery, an electronic governing system and a new control system to deliver the optimal amount of fuel. 

Among the largest medium-speed diesel engines manufactured in the U.S., they will allow the LPD 31 to cruise at speeds over 22 knots. The engines will be delivered to Huntington Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, where Fairbanks Morse will support the installation, testing and sea trials for the LPD 31.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Collins Aerospace Systems, a unit of Raytheon Technologies Corp., is helping the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps transition from analog to digital night-vision systems with the company’s new Enhanced Visual Acuity (EVA) system, the company said in a release. 

The system, recently selected for use by rotary-wing and tilt-rotor aircrews, is the first to provide advanced digital night vision and display technology that increases flight safety and mission effectiveness for the warfighter. 

Currently in development, EVA is a digital day/night vision solution that will integrate a helmet-mounted binocular display to provide wider, higher-resolution imagery and improved night vision performance at Very-Low-Light-Levels (VLLL) — when the rotary-wing pilot needs it the most. In addition, the design will minimize head-borne weight to reduce pilot fatigue while increasing comfort and safety. 

“Digital night vision is a big step forward in providing enhanced situational awareness to the warfighter and is a foundation we’ll continually build on to ensure mission success,” said Dave Schreck, vice president and general manager for military avionics and helicopters at Collins Aerospace. 

Work on the new developmental contract is taking place at Collins Aerospace facilities in Iowa, California and Massachusetts and will be completed by March 2023. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy base in Diego Garcia, an outpost in the Chagos archipelago in the Indian Ocean, would be welcome to remain if Mauritius succeeds in its sovereignty claim over the archipelago, currently known as the British Indian Ocean Territories (BIOT), a Mauritian official said. 

Diego Garcia, located in the middle of the Indian Ocean, hosts an air and naval base that have been strategically important to U.S. military operations in the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia since the mid-1970s. 

The Chagos archipelago in which Diego Garcia is located has been claimed by the United Kingdom, which in 1965 moved the Chagocian population from the islands to Mauritius and the Seychelles. Mauritius, an island group to the southwest between the Chagos and Madagascar, disputes the sovereignty over the Chagos by the U.K. The British have claimed the islands since 1814.    

Speaking in a June 24 online discussion sponsored by Arlington, Virginia-based think tank CNA, Ambassador Jagdish Koonjul, the permanent representative of Mauritius to the United Nations, said the UN’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared in February 2019 that the Chagos Archipelago “is and always has been an integral part of Mauritius.”  

Last May, the UN General Assembly voted 116-6 in favor of the Chagos being returned to Mauritius. The ICJ gave the British until last November to withdraw, which did not occur.  

The British partitioned the Chagos from Mauritius in 1965 when the U.K. purchased the Chagos for 3 million pounds. Mauritius claimed the separation was forced in order for Mauritius to gain its independence from Britain, finalized in 1968. 

The U.S. has a lease on the facilities there until 2036. Koonjul said Mauritius would propose a 99-year lease for the U.S. to retain the facility and would even allow the British to maintain facilities there if such an agreement were reached. But he said the current impasse is unsustainable. 

As part of an agreement, Mauritius would insist that any Chagocians wishing to re-locate back to the Chagos be allowed to do so, excluding Diego Garcia, but that Mauritians and Chagocians be allowed to seek employment on Diego Garcia.  

Koonjul noted that Mauritius favors the stability that the U.S. base brings to the Indian Ocean and that, as a close partner of India, it favors the increasingly close defense relationship of the United States with India. 

“Mauritius stands ready to be a reliable partner to the United States,” Koonjul said. 

Also speaking in the discussion was Mark Rosen, senior vice president and general counsel for CNA, who said that Diego Garcia was “already developed” and “very precious from a logistics standpoint” and that its isolation from civilian populations gave it “more operational freedom.”   

Rosen said the United Kingdom’s position has substantially weakened” in light of the ICJ decision and UN resolution and that the “political optics” for Britain were “not good” in an era of anti-colonialism. 

He said that time is not on the side of the United States and the U.K. and that the U.S. needs to be proactive in seizing the opportunity to resolve the impasse. 

Koonjul said that Mauritius has “no objection whatsoever to the U.S. base in Diego Garcia. … The importance of the base cannot be underestimated.” 

He stressed the endurance of an agreement between the U.S. and Mauritius in that all Mauritian political parties support the base in Diego Garcia. 

By an earlier agreement, the United States is not allowed to base nuclear weapons in Diego Garcia, although nuclear-armed or nuclear-powered ships are allowed in and out of the port facilities.