{"id":19377,"date":"2019-08-07T17:50:20","date_gmt":"2019-08-07T17:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/08\/07\/heres-what-the-navy-is-up-to-in-africa\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:18:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:18:32","slug":"heres-what-the-navy-is-up-to-in-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/2019\/08\/07\/heres-what-the-navy-is-up-to-in-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s what the Navy is up to in Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A group of sailors have spent the past month traveling along the western coast of Africa, according to Navy officials, as part of a partnership exercise that has seen five stops and dozens of meetings, events and training opportunities as part of Africa Partnership Station, a U.S. Naval Forces Africa<\/a> engagement program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The expeditionary fast transport ship Carson City, a military sealift command<\/a> vessel crewed by civilians and carrying a detachment of active duty sailors, left its Rota, Spain, homeport on July 2, for a trip down to Ghana<\/a>, Senegal, Cote D\u2019Ivoire, Nigeria and now Cape Verde.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe recognize that Africa is one of the most expansive continents, as well as one of the fastest growing economies, worldwide,\u201d Capt. Frank Okata, commander of Military Sealift Command Europe and Africa told reporters in a phone interview from Naples, Italy, on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And they have asked for U.S. support in learning to better secure and monitor their coasts, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along the way, the sailors engaged with locals on everything from combat casualty care to PTSD treatment, local media interviews and an eight-person band performing in marches or parades, Cmdr. Ty Bruce, the officer-in-charge of Carson City\u2019s military detachment, told reporters via phone from Cape Verde.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSeveral of the host nations are interested in, or are trying to beef up their diving programs,\u201d he added, so members of his crew introduced a hyperbaric chamber to show them how to train.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other times, the cooperation took them to repair small vessels for local forces, as most of the countries visited have more of a brown-water navy that sticks to close coastal operations. But they want to go farther than 20 to 50 miles offshore, Okata said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe largest is expanding seaward,” he said of their goals. \u201cMost of the navies we interacted with, their ability to do power projection or to sail far out into the sea like U.S. forces is very limited.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a region booming with economic development, much of it from Chinese investment, while confronting a piracy problem off the coast, the countries are eager for support from not only the U.S., but from partners like France, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom, who also make trips down to the Gulf of Guinea, Okata added.<\/p>\n\n\n\t