NEW HIGH-POWERED BOATS HELP COAST GUARD LEVEL PLAYING FIELD

PORTSMOUTH - Coast Guard crews chasing elusive Caribbean drug smugglers,
frequently in vain because of their slow craft, say the introduction of
their new 38-foot, 840-horsepower fiberglass Deployable Pursuit Boats is
starting to level the playing field.

Two of the new boats are sprinting across Hampton Roads waters at
interstate speeds this week, training to use innovative tactics designed to
thwart drug traffickers who, until now, have been able to outrace the
Coasties.

The gray, 3 1/2 -ton vessel, resembling a sharpened pencil with a rubber
skirt around its gunwale, can skim over 4-foot seas with barely a wiggle
and can take 7-foot seas with a pounding its four-member crew can live with.

Although still in the testing and evaluation phase, the boats are the
latest known effort in the nation's ongoing war against narcotics
traffickers who routinely import billions of dollars of cocaine from South
America to U.S. shores.

In September, the Coast Guard announced that it would begin using greater
force against smugglers, introducing armed helicopters and sharpshooters to
disable fast drug-carrying boats on the high seas.

The Coast Guard also is claiming success, saying the new techniques have
netted more than 6 tons of cocaine and led to the arrests of 13 accused
smugglers.

While the top speed of the Coast Guard's high-speed boats remains
classified, its crew said during a demonstration on the Elizabeth River
this week that the boats can exceed 60 miles per hour.

Charlie Gilchrist, a second class boatswain's mate and the coxswain, manned
the starboard side front seat and helm aboard ``Thunder Two'' as the pair
of high-speed boats made a run from downtown Portsmouth to the naval base
carrier piers on Monday.

Passengers and crew stood in front of padded back and arm rests, with
electronically operated cushioned seats that rose beneath them at the push
of a button.

Gunner's Mate second class Jimmy Moore manned the port side front seat to
handle the throttles, trim tabs and navigation and communications equipment.

Petty Officer 3rd class Mike Caverley was stationed at one of the four rear
seats as a lookout. The crew wore Kevlar helmets, life vests, 9 mm side
arms and maintained interior radio communications.

Gilchrist, who has been training in the new boats since August, brought the
twin Yanmar diesel engines to a gentle roar as the boat began to plane,
rising a full 2 feet, barely drawing a draft. He shifted to a second gear,
and the sensation was much like that felt when an automobile shifts into a
passing gear. A 20-foot tall rooster tail of water trailed off the stern.
The boats barely made a ripple of their own.

Tugboat wakes, even a 4-footer from a passing motor yacht, were barely
noticeable.

Gilchrist blocked the speedometer from view with his torso and merely
responded, ``in excess of 60,'' when asked how fast the boat was traveling.

Cmdr. Frank Reed, who heads the Coast Guard Tactical Law Enforcement Team
North, out of Portsmouth, said that while the Coast Guard has been serious
for years about stopping the illegal drug trade it's encouraging to see
these extra efforts being made to stop it.

Reed provides Coast Guard law enforcement teams to Navy and allied forces
in the Caribbean for drug enforcement and also in the Persian Gulf where
they enforce U.N. trade sanctions against Iraq.

``It is encouraging to those like me, who have been around for a long
while, to see us take this next step,'' Reed said.

It's very frustrating to a lot of Coast Guard and Navy captains and the law
enforcement teams to do everything possible to be in position and to detect
drug runners and then not have the ability to stop them, he said.

Adm. James M. Loy, Coast Guard commandant, said the operation is part of
increased efforts to stop drugs from coming into the United States. The
entire effort netted a record 53 tons of cocaine in the past year,
officials said.

Lt. Eric King and Chief Petty Officer Mike Moberley, head one of the
17-member law enforcement teams that will operate two of the boats.

``You will see all kinds of fast drug boats down there'' in the Caribbean,
Moberley said. ``Some will have three to four outboards in the back and
carry large amounts of fuel.''

``I've see them carrying eight to nine barrels of fuel,'' King said.
``That's enough to get them from Colombia to Jamaica, or Puerto Rico, or
the east coast of the Central American countries.''

They will be speeding in anything from 25-foot to 45-foot ``go fast'' boats
loaded with illegal drugs, they said.

``What this gives us is the capability to intercept them,'' King said.

Even the Navy's relatively new Cyclone-class coastal patrol ships, with
four engines and four propellers, can be outrun by the drug boats, they
said. Those ships, called ``PCs'' are 40 mph vessels.

``This gives us something we can use to keep up with them and intercept
them,'' King said. ``It is something we, the Coast Guard, haven't had.''

The two high-speed boats currently in Portsmouth, called Thunder One and
Thunder Two, are working with the former ocean surveillance ship
Persistent, which is capable of hoisting the vessels aboard.

Operated by the Military Sealift Command, the 225-foot Persistent serves as
a mother ship to the two boats, providing crews with food and lodging, plus
fuel and surveillance information.

The Coast Guard hopes that four high speed boats will be assigned to
Atlantic and Pacific coasts depending on how beneficial the program
becomes. The boats cost about $250,000 each, plus electronic equipment and
armament.

Reed hopes to get the boats in operation by the first of the year.

``We are looking at beefing them up with a small, light machine gun to add
some fire power to keep the guys safe,'' Reed said. They are operating now
without the white Coast Guard ships with them, he said. ``We want to make
sure they have an overwhelming force.''

Such work can be dangerous, Reed said.

``The ones we deal with in the fast boats traditionally have not been
overly dangerous,'' he said. ``If they are cornered they are more likely to
run or jettison their cargo.

``What we don't know, now that we have this asset, is what their move is
going to be. Are they going to shift to flying more cargo?

``What ever tactics they shift to, we want to make sure we are showing a
sufficient enough force and command presence that they are not liable to
take the next step and shoot back.

``That is what we are concerned about.''