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Salient. Official Newspaper of Victoria University of Wellington Students Association. Vol 41 No. 1. February 27 1978

"It was like war"

page 18

"It was like war"

The Pintado Visit

New Zealand has recently witnessed one of the clearest signs of the political place being sketched out for us by the United States of America: the visit of the USN Pintado. While some people have been claiming that the "dissident protestors" do not know what is good for them, that they would like New Zealand left open for enemy attack, etc., the reality of the situation is that the very presence of nuclear powered and armed ships in our waters endangers our safety. They are a definite target of attack in a war, they have not been proven safe in themselves, and as was seen in Auckland on the 16th January, their controllers have scant regard for the well-being of New Zealand citizens.

Salient reporters Sue Cairney and Rod Prosser took part in the Peace Action protest. Here are their reports.

The visit to Auckland of the Pintado and its subsequent berthing at Jellicoe wharf, six hundred yards from the busiest part of the city caused widespread concern. The Pintado was both nuclear powered and armed, unlike the two other nuclear warships Truxton and Longbeach which visited recently.

Opposition came from sources ranging from environmentalists, concerned with the implications of nuclear power on the environment, to those concerned with the more far reaching aspects of an increasing American military presence in New Zealand and the South Pacific.

The Auckland Peace Squadron, after receiving wide publicity following the stopping of the Longbeach hoped to get a fleet of two to five hundred boats out on the day of Pintado's arrival. The date was however later changed from a Saturday to the following Monday, possibly to avoid such a large protest.

Even so over a hundred small boats took part in the protest flotilla on the Monday morning. A protest march on the previous Friday night through downtown Auckland attracted public attention, as did a display and stall manned for the week preceding the sub's arrival. That the unions only made a token protest was a source of some disappointment to those organising the campaign.

Being in Auckland at the time I joined the organising committee and arranged a place on a Peace Squadron boat Phoenix. After waiting three hours in the Rangitoto channel for the sub's arrival we found ourselves in a very good position as the ships approached. With the Waikato in the lead they approached at high speed (10 knots) hoping to run the blockade.

Phoenix was attempting to get between the Sub and the Waikato but the speed of the two vessels was such that instead we found ourselves heading for a collision with the Pintado. No one who was on board either craft will forget the events that followed. Unable to turn, Phoenix struck the projecting fin of the sub, shearing our motor couplings, and leaving us without power.

Needless to say a three hundred foot submarine is rather terrifying when viewed from a few feet away. The Photographer strapped to the mast of the Phoenix could see straight down onto the huge propeller of the sub. When he was helped down later it was quite a while before he stopped shaking long enough to say how many shots he had taken in the minute of impending disaster. . . . 56.

Despite reports to the effect that the collision was planned beforehand, this was in fact not so. The helicopters of the NZ navy were meant to blow small boats away from the submarine. However they were responsible for capsizing many small yachts, causing great danger to their crews. It was one of these helicopters which gave the Phoenix the final push into collision. This was later denied by the defence department despite photographic evidence to confirm it.

The entire protest was later reported as the actions of a few stupid individuals. In fact the standards of seamanship and safety of the Peace Squadron were obviously far higher than those of both the police and the Navy. The Squadron has learnt from its mistakes with both the Longbeach and the Pintado. If there is to be a next time, as our present Government seems to believe, the blockade will be successful.

Sue Cairney

The convoy seemed to take an age to come over the horizon and get close enough for us to make out details. Then suddenly it was upon us. The NZ frigate Waikato surrounded by navy patrol boats and police launches led the Pintado in. The peace squadron had stationed itself at the narrowest point of the channel into Waitamata harbour; there was no way that the convoy and the Pintado, which was thundering along only a few meters astern of the Waikato, could have entered the harbour without pushing aside dozens of protest boats.

We had decided at the meetings of the peace squadron that we would offer no resistance to the Waikato but only to the Pintado. The plan was to let the Waikato slip through and have our boats converge on the Pintado's bows. To an extent that is what happened except that the convoy was coming in so fast that there was barely time to manoeuvre Added to that problem, two navy helicopters were using their down drafts to capsize yachts and small craft right under the bows of the Waikato. It was difficult to tell how many boats were capsized because the waves created by all the boats were enormous and the spray from the helicopters was blinding.

At one stage we did manage to make out a speedboat being lifted right out of the water on the hull of the sub. Soon after the sub took a sharp swerve to the left attempting to avoid the confusion. It then headed directly towards our boat and a number of others. Not having time to clear the way by quiet reasoning, the police and the navy resorted to violent ramming, causing considerable danger to all parties involved.

After having been rammed a couple of times and almost capsising in an 8 foot swell we found that the sub had shot up to only 3 or 4 meters behind us (in fact the submerged front of the sub was probably directly below us). Owing to the extremely choppy water we were unable to maintain our position and were washed aside as the monstrous black hulk went swiming past like a gigantic whale. We felt like whalers must have felt whilst harpooning from dwarfed whale boats. We also felt very much as if we were in a war, with police, navy and the US navy determined to break through enemy lines.

It was war because of the blatant disregard for human life displayed by the helicopter pilots and the captains of the convoy as they ploughed their way forcibly through leaving capsized boats and swimmers behind them.

Rod Prosser

The Pintado

Photo of ship and helicopters

The USS Pintado enters Waitemata Harbour. Note the height of the helicopters and the yacht immediately in front of the submarine.

The Pintado is one of a fleet of 37 submarines in the Sturgeon class. These submarines, soon due to become obsolete when the new Trident class comes into operation in the near future, are used mainly to hunt down 'enemy' submarines, hence their designation as 'Hunter-killer'.

The Sturgeon class has an interesting history. Shortly after construction one sank in its Californian harbour while being fitted out, an accident Congress later deemed totally avoidable. There are rumours that another of these subs has also suffered a similar fate.

What is S.U.B.R.O.C.?

The Pintado, like the other submarines in the Sturgeon class carries a missile system code named S.U.B.R.O.C. The SUBROC missile is fired from the submerged submarine as is an ordinary torpedo. It then leaves the water and flies under its own power for a distance of up to thirty kilometers. Homing in on its target the missile re-enters the water to explode. The blast from one of these missiles carrying a nuclear warhead will destroy any submarine within a radius of seven to ten kilometers. Every Sturgeon class sub is fitted to carry four to six nuclear armed SUBROC missiles. These missiles are programmed before firing so there is some doubt as to whether they are recallable. Despite the U.S. navy's description of SUBROC missiles as being only for use against 'enemy' submarines, these missiles could be used from sea to land. Coastal cities in particular are possible targets for SUBROC.