Indian Ocean Invasion - 14. IOI Chapter 14

“You look worried Commander” the Commodore said to me as he entered the bridge, “I am sir, just wondering about US aircraft getting through, before the HMS Queen Elizabeth gets into range” I replied, “Yes, I was thinking about the same thing, as I was trying to sleep last night” the Commodore replied, and I could see he was thinking about it carefully.

“The average flight range is 850 km’s, so that is 420 km’s one way, with a little space for safety. That puts it at the bottom of the Maldives Islands to the north, because the US doesn’t have an aircraft carrier in the region, we are safe to assume that there will be no fighter jets arriving unexpectantly, but they could send supply planes with extra land forces, from their base in Kuwait, Turkey, Singapore or Japan” the Commodore said.

“We have how many troops and helicopters onboard this ship?” I asked the Commodore, “920 troops and 12 helicopters, 20 light vehicles, plus 4 amphibious landing craft, plus the 350 crew onboard as well. It’s a little lighter than usual, because we have all the additional building supplies and equipment onboard” the Commodore said to me.

A short while later we received a message from Canberra. “Diplomatic efforts are at a stalemate, regarding Diego Garcia. Suggest using what you have there, to put pressure on them to leave, no weapons fire to be used at all, keep us informed on progress. Adm of the Fleet, RAN”.

“Well sir what do you suggest?” I asked, “How about we collect our extra troops and start scattering them around the remote parts of the Island, so we can get some more intelligence on what is going on over there” the Commodore suggested. “I agree with that sir” I replied, and I stepped back to let him do his job and issue the orders, since it was becoming more of a military matter now.

During the day, I spent a little bit of time on the bridge getting updates, and the rest of the time in the officer’s mess or in my cabin, staying out of the way. When nightfall finally arrived, Operation Night Owl went into effect, with the additional British forces, plus the Australian Army, and with favourable clouds, no moon, and strong winds, coming from the north-west, to hide the noise, troops landed on the eastern and southern side of Diego Garcia.

Knowing that all the military facilities are on the north-western end of the island, a total of 1300 troops, scattered around the island, and using night vision goggles, they were able to start observing what is happening at the US base, with far more troops, than the number of US troops on the island, making quiet reports to the command base on the largest Australian Naval ship in the region.

Thinking about what was happening now in the region, and with the recent act of British Parliament and Australian Parliament, to transfer ownership of the Archipelago, how quickly and easily it has affected, what some regard as the most powerful country on Earth, to lose its military stronghold in the region.

Well before dawn, I woke to the sound of the ships engines causing the ship to softly vibrate, alerting me to the ship being in motion, but I decided to wait till morning before I asked what was happening.

When I arrived on the bridge, I learnt, that we and the other three Australian Navy vessels, are now only ten nautical miles from Diego Garcia, and that several the helicopters were now on the deck and preparing to take off at short notice.

“It appears they flew in some extra troops overnight, approximately 400, according to observations from our troops on the ground” the Commodore informed me, “So what happens not sir?” I asked, worried that this was getting a little too serious.

“Well our PM has recalled the Australian Ambassador to the US, and informed the US Ambassador, that any forced attempts to stop us from legally landing on Diego Garcia, to take over control and management of the base, will be regarded as an act of war” the Commodore said to me.

“Holy hell, I didn’t think that it would get this serious” I replied shocked, “Some of our men have already checked out the aircraft hangers, there are no military jets on the island, which means they only have man power and that is all, so tonight soon after dark, while they are having their evening meal, we will be taking the island by force, but in a quiet and calm manner” the Commodore replied.

“I just hope that it can be done without anyone getting injured or killed” I responded. “When we learnt that the US was sending ships, the other Australian Frigate was dispatched to make its way here as quickly as possible, and it should be arriving tomorrow evening, ahead of the British ships.

The remaining 200 hundred troops from here, have been sent out instead of keeping them as reserves, and when the time comes, we will be sending sailors from each of the ships as extra, to assist with controlling the US troops, and make sure all weapons are accounted for, till they can be transported off the island” the Commodore said to me.

For the remainder of the day, I was nervous as anything, as the time approached for the Australian and British troops to take over control of the island. I stood on the outside deck of the bridge, listening carefully for any sounds of gunfire, and the waiting seemed to go on for hours and hours.

“Captain Archer to Commodore Holland, over” came a British voice over the radio, “Holland receiving, over” the Commodore responded, “Sir, we have achieved our main objective, most US Defence personnel have been detained, without any major struggles, and I have assurances that they will behave themselves, over” the Captain said.

“That is excellent news Captain, thank your men for a job well done, has the flag post been attended too, over” the Commodore replied, “That is an affirmative sir, the Australian and British National flags are flying from the pole as we speak sir” the Captain replied, which brought cheer from the crew on the bridge.

“What about civilian contractors, over?” the Commodore asked, “there is about 400 of them, and they all happily abided by our commands, and have been sent to their living quarters until further notice, over” the Captain announced.

Very pleased with how things went, without any incidences, I went down to the Officers mess to have some dinner, and back to my cabin to get some rest, as I had a few busy days ahead of me.

When I woke the next morning, the ship had moved once again, this time it was just a few hundred metres away from the shores of Diego Garcia, and I could see four other Australian ships close to the island, including the newly arrived second Frigate.

“Sir, we now have full control of the island and base, the few stragglers have been rounded up, and are cooperating along with the rest” and I have informed the approaching British ships of the change of events, but they are continuing their way here to make sure everything runs smoothly, and they will be here tomorrow” an Australian Army officer - Colonel Tim Parker, informed the Commodore.

“Sir, may I suggest that we leave the helicopters on the island, and use this ship to transport all the US personnel to the approaching US ships, so they can be sent home or where ever” the ships Commander suggested.

"Yes, I think that is a good idea, and we still have to deal with the civilian contractors, I think we may get our Administrator to have discussions with them” the Commodore said as he glanced over to me and smiled.

“Yes, they may become useful, to assist with building the communities, I will see what I can do to organise a meeting with them” I replied. A few hours later, once the helicopters had been flown over to the island, the 400 troops that had arrived just a day earlier, could board their plane and fly north to the US base at Kuwait.

Meanwhile the remaining 1200 US personnel, were loaded onto the Australian Helicopter Ship, and it set sail in a north-east direction to meet up with the two US ships, due in two days’ time.

As this was happening, I had been transported to the island, to begin my term as Administrator to the Chagos Archipelago, with 100 British and 400 Australian Defence personnel, to be the first to establish a joint British and Australian Naval base on the island. Later that same day, I met with a group of Philippine and Sri Lankan workers, who had been contract workers for the US defence for some time.

During this meeting, I learnt that most of the contractors, had been working 10 to 12-hour days, 6 days a week, with below average pay. Knowing what my establishing budget is for the first two years, I decided to put a good chunk of that into ensuring that the contractors, were given better work conditions, with half hour breaks every three hours, with 9 hour working days, and 5 ½ day working weeks.

I would also allow contractors to go home to visit family for two weeks, then return to the island for a 12-month Australian contract, which all of them were happy to accept. Colonel Parker has been appointed the Base commander for a two-year term, so I would be working with him closely, with getting the base fully operational with British and Australian defence personnel.

We decided quickly, within a few weeks, that there was no need to have the whole island restricted to just defence personnel, and that east of Turtle Cove at the southern end of the island, would be available for Chagos civilians to establish homes, and businesses.

I decided that the former settlement at East Plantation, would be the new administration headquarters for the territory, and with the help of engineers from the Australian Army, we were able to ascertain what building we were able to rescue and restore and which ones were beyond help of restoring, and would be demolished, while the former flying boat jetty would be resurrected and fully restored, so it can be the civilian main jetty to get to the other islands, and to the island’s main jetty and the airport.

One Frigate, the resupply ship and the patrol boat remained on the island, now docked at the Navy shipping yards, to keep an Australian Navy presence in the area, as well as the land defence personnel, and an RAAF – Royal Australian Airforce cargo plane, was now delivering regular supplies to everyone in the region, including the fast growingChagos community, with homes built already being built.

Homes had already been established on the Eagle and Egmont Islands, plus the Three Brothers Islands, with water tanks, solar panels for hot water and power, for each of the houses, which are flat pack prefabricated homes, built to cyclone proof standards, that can be built quickly. I had already met with each of the groups of Chagos people, and come up with a slightly different system, then how the other Australian Territories have.

Because it is a different situation with the community members, it was agreed on, that each community will have a village chief, and that each chief would be a member of the Chief Council, instead of a shire council, that would assist with managing and running the islands, likehow shire councils operate, apart from the defence base, which is controlled and managed by the Australian Defence Force in Canberra

About five kilometres north of Turtle Cove, a number of existing buildings made it an ideal location, to make it the Chagos Archipelago’s main administration centre, with the Chief Council being in the large main building, and some of the smaller buildings were being transformed into shops, and offices, and nearby semi cleared areas, make it perfect for establishing more community buildings, including a school, post office, library, a trading store, and much more.

With discussions with the Colonel, it was decided to establish a physical boundary between the military base and the rest of the island, so using an existing small fence that crosses a narrow stretch of the island, 6 km’s south of the end of the runway, and just 300 metres south of some base housing, a more permanent fence and barrier is to be built.

Firstly, a 20-metre wide and 80-metre long ditch would be dug, that covers the full width of the island in that area, followed by a 2-metre-high fence with a 1 metre deep stone and concrete footing, would be built on both sides of the ditch, thus cutting off the road and access from both sides, and give the Chagos community more space for building homes.

It was also decided to build a proper Airport terminal on the South east end of the parking apron of the airport, which is just 450 metres from the shore of the inside harbour, where another jetty would be built, to allow civilians access to the airport. For the first 3 months since my arrival, we had shops, a school, post office and library, trading store, a Hindu temple, a Buddhist temple, a Christian church, a small hospital and a community hall built around the Chief council buildings.

My home has been fully renovated, and part of it is used for my official office space, along with two administration staff plus two-house staff, all of them employed from the community.

Of the 400 former US civilian contractors, only 180 decided to return after spending some time at home with family, with most them being Sri Lankan, and they were able to be properly house in houses separate from the military personnel, south of the airport, which made them a lot happier.

The main Diego Garcia island now has a total of 320 community houses, while the two Egmont Islands, 80 kilometres to the north west, they have 40 houses on each, along with a small jetty, community centre and small school.

34 km’s north-north-east of Egmont Islands, is the Three Brothers Islands, which has a total of 20 house on the South Brother island, and 10 houses on each of the North and Middle Brother islands, with each island having a small boat jetty, while 14 kilometres to the west on Eagle island, there are 40 houses, a community centre, a shop and a small school and jetty.

On Boddam Island, which is 120 kilometres north of Diego Garcia, and 80 km’s north-east of the Three Brothers Islands, in the Salomon Group of Islands, there was once a thriving community, and an old stone Christian church, and recently a total of 120 houses have been built, and restoration work has begun on the old church, plus a they built a community centre, a small school and several small shops, plus a new boat jetty.

The nearby Takamaka and Fouquet Islands, that are 5 and 6 km’s to the east of Boddam, in the same island group have 25 houses on each, and they share the community facilities on Boddam Island.

On my recommendation, several small aluminium boats were purchased, an 18-metre former Dive charter boat, that has 28 passenger seats, two toilets, and a small kitchen, and a tour speed of 32 km per hour, to be used as a small ferry service between the islands.

I also was able to arrange for the purchase of twelve smaller aluminium boats, that are more than 6 metres long, with a small outboard motor, to allow the locals to do fishing, and this would include trawling nets and cray pots.