Liverpool intercepts suspect ship bound for Libya

TRUCKS for Colonel Gaddafi’s war machine were intercepted by HMS Liverpool as the ship helped draw a dragnet along the Libyan coast.

The Portsmouth-based destroyer intercepted the MV Setubal Express, bound for Tripoli from Malta, and sent her boarding team of Royal Marines and sailors aboard.

There, after a thorough search of the 13,000-ton ferry, they found trucks which could have been used by the Gaddafi regime. They also found the Setubal Express’ manifest did not tally.

Liverpool is operating under the banner of NATO’s Operation Unified Protector. As a result of the destroyer’s inspection, NATO chiefs ordered the ferry not to proceed to Libya, but put into Salerno in Italy.

In addition to enforcing the arms embargo, Liverpool's mission includes directing the Allied aerial mission over Libya enforcing the no-fly zone – including working with Coalition F18 jets, refuelling tankers and maritime patrol aircraft on surveillance missions.

The destroyer also escorted a refugee ship leaving the beleaguered city of Misrata, scene of the most protracted and bitter fighting of the Libyan civil war.

The civilian populace are not the only ones in harm's way. Liverpool’s ops room team have “routinely” identified attempts by coastal batteries and radar sites ashore to track the Type 42 as she steamed just outside Libyan waters.

All of which has meant the ship being ‘closed down’ at action stations almost constantly given the threats she has faced.

That, said Liverpool’s Commanding Officer Cdr Colin Williams, was “keeping the team’s concentration focussed”.

He continued: “I’m immensely proud of my ship’s company for the way they have dealt with the challenges they have faced so far.

“HMS Liverpool is protecting the civilian population of Libya by enforcing the no-fly zone and the maritime embargo, showing the value of maritime forces and the skill of the Royal Navy. We are doing a really good job.”

The destroyer was due to accompany the Cougar 11 amphibious task group to the Mediterranean and east of Suez. Instead she sailed early and was sent to relieve HMS Cumberland, which returned to Devonport on Saturday.

Cdr Williams said when chatting with his men and women in the veteran destroyer’s mess decks he’d been impressed by their understanding of the ship’s role in the bigger picture of the Libyan mission.

Liverpool is one of nearly 20 ships from eight nations (Belgium, Canada, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, and the UK) patrolling the Gulf of Sirte.

There she’s joined by HMS Brocklesby which has broken off normal duties with a NATO minehunting force to support the international mission.

Beneath the surface of the Mediterranean HMS Turbulent remains on stand-by to conduct Tomahawk cruise missile strikes against the Libyan Government’s military machine should they be needed. So far, they have not.