FANG takes on another submarine...

The Fremantle Anti-Nuclear Group and the Peace Fleet staged a small but effective protest at the arrival in Fremantle today of the USS Constellation and its battle fleet.

The focus of the action was the USS Columbia, a nuclear powered Los Angeles Class attack submarine that was supposed to be comming in with the fleet. We had planned to blockade the sub as it tried to enter Cockburn Sound but found early this morning that it had docked last Wednesday. Our two small boats went out anyway and managed to penetrate naval waters and to come within a few metres of the sub, which was docked at Garden Island.

In fact we came so close that we were concerned our propellors might hit the submerged bits of the sub. We seemed to take everyone by surprise and our arrival was met with stern demands from a low ranking US sailor that we "Move away from the Ship" and that we "leave". We asked to speak with the Commanding officer of the sub and to be allowed to hand him a letter of protest. We spent about 10 minutes in the area before being chased out by an Australian navy vessel.

The officer aboard the Australian vessel offered to deliver our letter. We left after handing the letter over and returned to shore. Our action was witnessed by media representatives who followed us into the area on a large sea rescue vessel. The action managed to make TV news on the three commerical stations and was used as the lead into the story of the battle fleet arriving on two of the stations. We also had many radio and print interviews throughout the day. We managed to make our point, get a dream run in the media and be home before lunch so all in all it was a good result.

FANG and the Peace Fleet intend continuing sea borne protest actions against all visiting nuclear powered and armed vessels. If you know anyone with a vessel or an interest in joining us please send a reply email to freofreelance@hotmail.com.

yours for a nuclear free world,

Jane