As part of a visit to the British Indian Ocean Territory, HMS Tamar has made its way to Diego Garcia, with the crew of the patrol vessel expressing their eagerness to support the archipelago’s maritime security measures while safeguarding its invaluable marine ecosystem.
The crew members, through their Twitter account, have conveyed their commitment to contribute towards the conservation of the region’s natural resources, which is a critical aspect of their mission. The visit of the patrol ship to Diego Garcia is part of its broader responsibilities to ensure the security and well-being of the territory.
Furthermore, the crew reiterated their intent to collaborate with the local authorities and work towards achieving their shared goals of enhancing the maritime security posture and preserving the marine environment, highlighting the importance of this engagement.
We’ve arrived in Diego Garcia as part of our visit to the #BritishIndianOceanTerritory. 🇮🇴
We’re looking forward to contributing to the archipelago’s maritime security and helping to protect its precious marine ecosystem. 🐠#TeamTamar pic.twitter.com/2hsjDlMsoR
— HMS Tamar (@hms_tamar) February 16, 2023
Diego Garcia is a remote, small coral atoll located in the Indian Ocean, and it is the largest of the 60 small islands and atolls that make up the British Indian Ocean Territory. The island’s strategic location, halfway between Africa and Indonesia, has made it a valuable location for military and naval operations for decades.
The United States maintains a large military presence on the island, including a naval support facility, which serves as an important logistical hub for the US Navy’s operations in the Indian Ocean.
Love that paint job !
poster for south pacific musical
A pity the inhabitants can’t enjoy the islands, they were forcefully deported.
Agreed, it’s a very muddy episode, and I cannot see why the unfortunate locals can’t be allowed back to the rest of the islands. They can pose no security threat to the operations at the base, and it would right a wrong.
The British Government rightfully has the power to compulsory purchase your home & demolish it for the public good to build a hospital, school, road or rail. However, we expect HMG to be fair, transparent & generous with compensation. It did none of these things with the islanders. They need an apology for the way they were treated & a final, more generous pay off.
Yes that’s all true, the shame was in not making the British citizens and transporting them to the Seychelles and Maritus.
Indeed it’s a bit of a sorry state and actually gives our geopolitical opponents or regional opponents ammunition. The best way to have a valid moral reason to keep some of these potentially strategically important bits is to make the population tied to the United Kingdom, just as we have done with the falklands.
John wrote: “”However, we expect HMG to be fair, transparent & generous with compensation. It did none of these things with the islanders. “” The UK government first handed over £650K to the Mauritius government to hand over to the 1000 Islanders relocated there. The Mauritius government failed to hand over that money until 1978. Due to the above the Uk handed over another £4 million in 1982, with the Mauritius government handing over land worth £1 million to the Islanders .During the 80s most of them relocated to the Uk. In 2016 the Government argeed to hand over another £40 million . So… Read more »
Nick, I looked into this, the locals were shipped over to Mauritius and given a lump sum. They in turn after spending that money relocated to the Uk (on mass) So the UK and US run DG, because it is a military base , wildlife (as in sea life) is free from commercial overfishing which is rampant across the Indian ocean . The Uk has designated the seas around DG a protected area. So lets say the locals get back the Island thanks to the UN. How will they make a living, tourism and no doubt selling fishing rights… Read more »
So much this. And if the past local inhabitants do go back, how long do you suppose it would be until we’d discover at least one of them trying to spy for China (and probably India and Pakistan too)?
I’d give it six months.
And the islanders have been given millions in compensation now. Their initial treatment wasn’t great and the compensation not enough, but that has been rectified now.
I’m a bit surprised it didn’t stop off in Sri Lanka on the way from Bangladesh. Given how bad Sri Lanka’s economy is and how heavily targetted it’s been for China’s belt and road initiative, I’d have thought it’s exactly the kind of country the B2s need to wave the flag in. Even David Cameron got some good press there last month when he visited the failing new port. If it does fails, the Chinese will do their usual trick of taking ever larger slices of the action, ending up with a Chinese owned enclave next to the capital.
The West should know how to counteract China more smartly by now and offer some genuinely good alternatives and regain influence. Same with DG. Work with the indigenous peoples now, can’t they live in part on the sides of the DG base?
We really should have made more of our own presence on Diego Garcia over the years. It’s incredibly valuable real estate. Now that we have given all the former inhabitants citizenship hopefully we can come up with something with Mauritius. Quite frankly it’s ridiculous that we even have to negotiate with Mauritius for an island that’s no where near them but successive British governments have been screwing this up for decades. As soon as maritus gets its hands on it it will be open season for over fishing and the wishes of the Chagossians won’t matter a bit to the… Read more »
The crews of those little rivers B2 seem to have all the fun. If you want to see the world best place is to be the crew of a wee little patrol boat, who would have thought….when once all a rivers really did was toddle around the Channel checking net sizes on trawlers.
Great place to visit.
The USN CPO Mess bar faces the beach and lagoon and the surf is fantastic. The base area is huge.
The Brits manage Customs and Wildlife protection and do/did a good sideline in organising beach BBQs !
Yes the locals got screwed over but not just by the UK. Mauritius is as culpable in screwing over the islanders.
Its a massively important strategic asset and it needs to stay in the UKs portfolio of assets.
Well it shows that the Camo is very effective (but costly to apply to larger units but doable) and even with modern systems the Mk1 eyeball is still the key observation outfit for most. Bobby on the beat and doing a first class job of showing the Flag and being about.
At 2000 tons they are not ‘small wee ships’ the crews may not be big but there is space a plenty.
For now the weapons onboard are adequate but really needs a 57mm up front, 30mm’s abeam and that S100 fit out. Well we can but dream.