During their trip from Auckland to Wellington aboard the Royal Navy patrol vessel HMS Spey, a team of eleven members of the Matataua they exhibited their skill set last month. Lieutenant Jack Walters, the Matataua Boarding Officer, led the team.
The Royal New Zealand Navy allows its personnel to participate in a boarding team course that lasts for five weeks. During this time, they gain knowledge in critical event management, tactical communications, firearms training, advanced first aid, room clearing, search methods, and ladder skills.
Because these individuals typically arrive from various ships and units and then disperse back to them, RNZN boarding parties typically become platform-centric, meaning they are affiliated with a specific craft for a particular time.
The entire ship must be “worked-up” for an operation to get that ship ready for patrols that involve boarding other vessels. This is an expensive endeavour regarding the personnel, training, and overhead costs.
Matataua will be able to provide a scaled, fully equipped, and qualified boarding capability under this new concept. This capability will be available at short notice for “fly-in, fly-out” deployments to support a Royal New Zealand Navy ship engaged in an operation or the vessels of partner nations.
LT Walters asks, “Why not send in a well-trained and ready team that can transition into a ship or even operate from a coast with small boats?” This is a question he poses in the context of the cost of the operation.
“Between the many boarding teams aboard the various ships, there were frequently varied standards of execution, which meant that there was no one hub of excellence for the finest procedures. After finishing the task, you would then proceed to depart the ship. However, because we have this sustainable unit at Matataua, we can record the lessons we have learnt as we continue to develop the capability. Because of this, we have already had rapid success in upgrading our equipment, enabling us to provide world-class boarding operations that are ready to move at a moment’s notice.
The period spent at Spey provided valuable insight into deploying with a partner nation that could only partially board troops. The DBT was responsible for various aspects of the boarding, beginning with getting outfitted, being given the mission briefing, continuing to launch in Spey’s RHIB, and having it return to the scene to carry out a “self-boarding.”
“We had opportunity to get some practice integrating with the ship’s command crew by conducting boarding briefings. This facilitated a smooth transition into successfully implementing our team’s plan, and the RN and DBT teams learned many valuable lessons.
According to Lieutenant Commander Walters, the result would be a considerable improvement in the Navy’s capacity to provide maritime security and its interoperability and ties with other fleets and agencies in the Pacific.
Leading Marine Technician (Propulsion) JJ McInnes, a crew member, believes that rather than standing up an entire ship, it would be better to have a squad capable of jumping in to support an operation or the vessel of another nation.
Stevie Morrison, who works as an Ordinary Hydrographic Systems Operator, referred to the time spent in Spey as a “wicked” opportunity for the crew. “I’m the newest member, and it is definitely outside my normal role,” she says. “I’m excited about it.” “I enjoyed getting to know so many different people through my employment. That was first time ever when I had ever boarded a ship while it was in motion, and it was a ton of fun and a wonderful experience.
