US statements on the use of Cape Wrath
information on the Puerto Rico campaign is at:
A group of Scottish peace activists went to the Range Control Post of the Cape Wrath range at 8.00 am this morning (Friday) to protest against the use of the range by the US Navy. Three US ships are shelling Cape Wrath because local protests last year prevented them from using Vieques Island in Puerto Rico.
The group includes Billy Wolfe, former leader of the Scottish National Party, Brian Quail, Joint Secretary of Scottish CND, and residents from the Faslane Peace Camp.
A spokesman for the group said:
"We are here to show solidarity with the people of Puerto Rico and to stop Scotland being shelled by the US Navy. We are trying to protect the seabird colony on Cape Wrath and also trying to protect the people of Iraq from being bombed."
The ships involved are believed to be the cruisers USS Anzio and USS Cape St George along with the guided missile destroyer USS Mahan. All are part of the USS Eisenhower carrier group. There were serious concerns in the Pentagon and Congress that the public protests in Puerto Rico would prevent the carrier group becoming fully operational, unless and alternative site for live-firing was used. The carrier group is currently on route to the Gulf from where its aircraft will fly missions over Iraq.
The range area includes Clo Mor, the highest cliffs in Britain, and a seabird colony of international significance used by puffins, guillemots and many other species. Just offshore is Garvie Island, a tiny island where 1000 pound bombs have been dropped regularly for decades.
Three US Navy ships are about to shell the Cape Wrath area after local protests prevented them from using a range in Puerto Rico.
After one local person was killed on the Puerto Rico range last year, fishermen sailed into the range area and set up camp on Vieques Island. They were joined by many others.
The USS Eisenhower carrier group is currently being deployed to the Gulf and sailed from Norfok, Virginia on 18 Feb. When they reach the Gulf, the 75 aircraft on the nuclear powered carrier will fly missions over Iraq. Before becoming fully operational the carrier group must complete a number of exercises including live firing. This was to have taken place in Vieques, but could not be completed because hundreds of local people were camped out on the range.
London offered the Pentagon the use of the Cape Wrath range to part of the carrier group. Two cruisers, USS Anzio (CG68) and USS Cape St George (CG71), and one destroyer, USS Mahan (DDG72), are shelling Cape Wrath with their 5 inch guns. All of these vessels also carry Tomahawk Cruise missiles.
The Cape Wrath range is in use from 28 February to 10 March. During this period it will be used by the ships above and also by three NATO frigates which are not connected with the Eisenhower group. It is believed the US ships began using the range on the afternoon of Wednesday 1st March and are due to finish on Saturday 4th March.
When locals occupied the Vieques range they found that there had been widespread environmental damage caused by decades of bombing and shelling. The discovered that bombs and shells had literally flattened entire hills on the range and polluted the air, water and soil with toxic residues from explosives and metal casings. The US Navy also admitted that they accidentally fired 267 Depleted Uranium canon rounds on the range.
The Cape Wrath range includes Cllo Mor, the highest sea cliffs in Britain and a seabird colony of international significance. Species within the range area include puffins, golden eagles, red throated diver, gulls, razorbills, arctic terns, guillemots and storm petrels. There are ongoing studies into the impact of military activity on the seabird colony.
The Cape Wrath range is the largest bombing range in Europe and the only range in Europe where 1000 pound bombs can be dropped. Local people are particularly concerned about aircraft activity. The aircraft from the Eisenhower will not be bombing the range on this occasion, but ships from the carrier group will be firing their guns. There are no plans to use Deplete Uranium, but then the use of DU at Puerto Rico was also not officially sanctioned.
President Clinton has offered to hold a referendum on Puerto Rico to decide whether the US military should be allowed to go back to using the range there. Here the MoD saw no need to consult the Scottish Parliament before they invited the US Navy to use Cape Wrath. John Spellar, the junior defence minister, has said that "defence remains a reserved issue and therefore there is no requirement for this matter to have been raised with the Scottish Executive" (letter to Linda Clark MP 8 Feb 2000). The MoD appears to be ignoring the environmental issues, which they are well aware of, and which fall within the remit of the Scottish Parliament.
An 8,308 acre RN and RAF weapons range and army exercise area. The two weapons ranges are:
(a) A ship-to-shore bombardment range, originally established in the 1930s. Cape Wrath is the only ship-to-shore bombardment range in Europe. Ships of the RN and other NATO (and occasionally non-NATO) navies use the range for practice firing of their 4.5 inch and 5 inch guns at car wrecks up to two miles inland. The cliffs are used as ranging marks for the guns, and torpedoes and rockets are also fired at the cliffs or offshore. Sheep have been killed and maimed by the bombardments. In 1968 Mrs Nellie Munro of Durness was injured by shrapnel from an off-target shell while collecting cockles on the shore of the Kyle of Durness. In 1978 two lobster boats narrowly escaped being blown out of the water by three frigates when firing started as they were picking up creels just offshore. The inland part of the range, as well as being a target area for naval guns, is regularly used for army and marines exercises, including the firing of small arms and guns of all sizes. The tourist road to Cape Wrath lighthouse runs right through the middle of the range. In the early 1980s a marine went missing without trace while on exercise on the range and a holidaymaker also disappeared without trace while camping in the area. The MOD said the disappearances were unconnected with range firing.
(b) An Garbh-eilean (Garvie lsland) an airbombardment range, the only one in Europe available for live dropping of 1,000 lb bombs. A US sergeant from Lakenheath described these operations: “They go up there, bomb the shit out of some little island off the coast of Scotland, using smoke bombs, you know. I’ve seen the pictures. It’s really neat.”
A maximum of forty-eight 1,000 lb bombs can be dropped on the island in any one month, and rocket and cannon firing is also permitted. This means that, since Garvie Island range cannot be used at the same time as naval bombardment is going on, and bombing and shelling does not normally take place at weekends, there is virtually continuous use of the Cape Wrath ranges on weekdays.
Garvie Island has been used for aerial bombardment since the 1950s. Several aircraft en route to the range have had to jettison their bombs or have crashed with live weapons on board. In September 1982 an RAF Jaguar crashed on a hill behind Brora. In October 1979 one of the same lobster boats which had been shelled by frigates 11 months previously narrowly escaped damage when picking up creels off Garvie Island during a period of range inactivity. A bomb disposal team detonated five unexploded 1,000 lb bombs on the island, showering the sea around with shrapnel and rock debris. The boats skipper, Gordon Bain, estimated that there were 500 unexploded bombs in the sea off Cape Wrath.
Bombing and shelling at Cape Wrath can be heard 35 miles away at Bettyhill, and local houses have suffered structural damage from vibration. In 1980 local councillors expressed concern at the impact on-tourism and succeeded in getting the Highland Regional Council to adopt a policy of scaling down activity at the range with a view to its eventual closure, although this is outside the council’s jurisdiction. At the time the MOD responded by stating that they were negotiating a new 21 year lease on the range and would use a compulsory purchase order if necessary. Following the near disastrous incidents with fishing boats in 1978-79, the MOD then proposed a new set of bye-laws prohibiting access to the range area (which extends 25 miles offshore and up to 55,000 feet). In 1980 was radio equipment installed at the range control hut to enable range controllers to contact fishing boats in the area; not all of the range area is visible from the control hut on Faraid Head. In 1983 it was reported that there was neither radar nor patrol boats to cover the range area, although it is unclear if this is still the case.
(This information is based on an extract from Fortress Scotland written for Scottish CND by Malcolm Spaven in 1983)
Official US statements about the use of Cape Wrath
Richard Danzig, Secretary of the Navy Press Conference 3 Dec 1999
Q: .. why not just leave [Puerto Rico] now and do with the patchwork [Cape Wrath] for five years ?
SEC DANZIG: Well, it's a good question. And in some respects, if we could, that would be an attractive alternative. It's not, in my judgement, a reallistically appropriate route to go down. Let me give you an example of why.
We've talked about Cape Wrath in Scotland. Cape Wrath has 50 percent of its days, in the March time period that we'de use it, such bad weather that in fact, being able to shoot there isn't plausible to be able to do the training there. Therefore we estimate that it may take us something on the order of three steaming days and four training days in the use of the range to accomplish the training, but it could take longer. And every one of those days that we stay for weather reasons is another day that we're not on station and not available to perform the mission. It's clearly not as good an alternative.
Moreover, Cape Wrath is not available in the summertime to us; it's available in February and March, so it will not be available for other battle groups. Moreover, this battle group is planning to spend time in the Mediterranean because of our force structure rotation arrangements. Not all groups do that. We may not have as much time with future groups.
So the alternatives that work for this particular group may by no means work reliably for future groups. And therefore, I think we think of this as a one-time patch that enables us to buy some time to make progress on what we care most about, which is talking, hopefully, in a fruitfull way with people in Puerto Rico and arriving at a resolution. And we're taking advantage of this time. But as a long-term solution, it's not a good one.
[comment - If Puerto Rico is ruled out in future, the UK could be under pressure to extend the use of Cape Wrath, and use it at other times of year when there would be more impact on the seabird colony]
Kenneth Bacon Assistant Secretary of Defense Press Conference 7 Dec 1999
Q Ken, can you bring us up to snuff on what's going on on preparation by the Eisenhower battle group to go overseas?
MR. BACON: Well, I can't really go much beyond what Secretary Danzig announced on Friday. I thought he was very clear that it's performing the bulk of the training in various domestic sites. Several ships will have live-fire training at Wrath Island in Scotland on their way to the Mediterranean, and there could be additional training as the battle group continues during its deployment. And beyond that, I don't have much to add. [the Pentagon seem to think Cape Wrath is an island !]
American Forces Press Service 6 Dec 1999
The Eisenhower and the Wasp task forces will not be combat-ready when they leave Norfolk for the Gulf, but they will receive sufficient live-fire training before they are put into combat, according to Johnson [Admiral Jay Johnson, Chief of Naval Operations]