Call at Sydney and ... stay on board

Yes, life can be tough. You go to Australia once, even to beautiful Sydney, and then you have to make do with looking at the Harbour Bridge and Opera House from afar. No trespassing! That's what's currently happening to the soldiers on board three warships, who would certainly have liked to take advantage of this perhaps unique opportunity to go ashore. The ships from Japan, South Korea and the United States have moored in Garden Island for a "contactless, COVID-safe port visit", as the Australian side euphemises it. Before the start of the multinational Pacific Vanguard exercise, the Japanese Makinami, the South Korean Wang Geon and the American Rafael Peralta in the south-eastern Australian harbour city. All that remained for the crews of the three destroyers due to the corona pandemic was to enter a controlled quarantine zone around the harbour. Only sick soldiers were allowed to be admitted to hospital for treatment of acute conditions.

This week's Pacific Vanguard exercise is intended to train the cooperation of the participating partners in high-intensity combat. At the end of the exercise, the three visitors and the HMAS Brisbane under the same conditions again from 10 to 13 July to take on provisions and fuel in Sydney. It remains to be seen whether motivated crews will return home afterwards.

In a few weeks, the frigate Bavaria set course for the Indo-Pacific to fly the flag there. They are also expected to make their way to Australia. Whether the situation in the region will have improved by then to such an extent that a normal harbour visit with shore leave will be possible again is anyone's guess at the moment. The soldiers on board are therefore likely to have mixed feelings as they prepare for the voyage, because who would want to be locked up on a ship for several months travelling to this region of the world for the first time in around 20 years?

Text: mb; Photo; Royal AUstralian Navy