USNS ApacheLebanese air and sea blockade
Jul 14, 2006
The US military ordered one of its ships out of Haifa in what a Navy statement said was a precaution. The fleet ocean tug USNS Apache had been on an exercise with the Israeli navy.
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411366/787343US supplying Israel with NSA signals intelligence
August 3, 2006
The National Security Agency is providing signal intelligence to Israel to monitor whether Syria and Iran are supplying new armaments to Hezbollah as it fires hundreds of missiles into northern Israel, according to a national security official with direct knowledge of the operation. President Bush has approved the secret program.
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/US_supplying_Israel_with_NSA_signals_0803.htmlPowhatan Class Fleet Ocean Tug:
Laid down, 22 March 1979, at Marinette Marine Corp., Marinette, WI.
Launched, 28 March 1981
Delivered to the Navy, 23 July 1981
Assigned to the Military Sealift Command (MSC), and placed in service as USNS Apache (T-ATF-172)
Apache is currently attached to MSC Atlantic
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Specifications:
Displacement 1,387 t.(lt) 2,000 t.(fl)
Length 218'
Beam 42'
Draft 15' (max)
Speed 15 kts.
Complement 16 civilians,
4 navy (communications unit) Armament none
Propulsion two GM EMD 20-645F7B diesels (5.73 MW sustained), two shafts, Kort nozzles, CP props, bow thruster, 300hp (224KW)
http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/39172.htm The USNS Apache is a naval auxiliary ship, it is listed as a
Fleet Ocean Tug. The ship for all intents and purposes would be an ideal platform for naval SIGINT activities. Tugs are extremely slow and can linger off the coast of the target nation while collecting signals and not drawing attention to itself.
"What we wanted was a slow tub," recalled Frank Raven, "that was civilian, that could mosey along a coast relatively slowly, take its time, and spend time at sea." Frank Raven was the head of the NSA's "G Group" which monitored signals traffic concerning non-Soviet and non-communist countries in 1960, when the NSA decided it needed seaborne platforms to collect intelligence.
The Fleet Ocean Tugs within the Navy's Military Sealift Command have no homeports, which allows it to be anywhere around the world without suspicion. The USNS Apache just happened to be in Haifa when hostilities between Israel and Lebanon broke out. The ship also falls within Frank Raven's description as it has a complement of mostly civilians with a four man Naval communications unit(read NSA).
The possibility that the Fleet Ocean Tugs were being used as SIGINT platforms hit me when I noticed the resemblance of the
Powhatan Class tugs to the navy's other overt surveillance ships, the
Stalwart Class Ocean Surveillance Ship which were used in underwater ocean surveillance for Surveillance Towed-Array Sensor System (SURTASS) operations to detect submarines.
Stalwart Class Ocean Surveillance Ship
Powhatan Class USNS Apache