Royal Bahamas Defence Force

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HMBS Bahamas P-60 in Nassau

Royal Bahamas Defence Force
Founded	1980
Headquarters	New Providence Island
Leadership
Commander-in-Chief	Queen Elizabeth II
Military age	16 years of age for selection process, 17 years of age is actual serving age (As of 2007)
Expenditures
Percent of GDP	% (2007)

Under The Defence Act, the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) has been mandated to defend The Bahamas, protect its territorial integrity, patrol its waters, provide assistance and relied in times of disaster, maintain order in conjunction with other law enforcement agencies of The Bahamas, and carry out any such duties as determined by the National Security Council. The Defence Force is also a member of Caricom's Regional Security Task Force. The task force has seen action in the United Nations mandate in Haiti 1994.

1 Structure
2 History
3 RBDF overhaul
4 The Force
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Structure

There are two career tracks in the RBDF, Marine (rating) & Officer. The enlisted personnel ranks range from Marine to Force Chief Petty Officer. And the Officer ranks range from Midshipman to Commodore.There are about 1,000 members of the Defense Force. The force is organized and trained along British lines and many of the officers attend British service academies.

The main ships in the force are Two Bahamas Class OPV's, and three smaller Protector Class OPV's. Most of the missions consist of anti-poaching patrols, anti-drug immigration enforcement, Search and Rescue, or general National Defence missions.

There is also one aircraft that has returned from the United States after being refurbished. However, while there are no qualified pilots (as of December 2006) to fly the aircraft, which belongs to the Air Wing, several are being trained.

The Headquarters of the Defence Force are at RBDF Base Coral Harbour, on New Providence Island. The commander is Commodore Clifford 'Butch' Scavella. Additional bases are located in Matthew Town, Inagua and Freeport, Grand Bahama.

The RBDF uses the British Royal Navy style of rank insignia, and all ships carry the title HMBS (Her Majesty’s Bahamian Ship).

Because of the lack of ships, most RBDF members do not spend time at sea, and are used for other military or non-military roles.

Peacekeeping missions have been conducted with the participation of RBDF members in El Salvador and Haiti.

[edit] History

By an Act of Parliament, the RBDF became an official entity on March 31, 1980, falling under the Ministry of National Security. Unlike the rest of the Commonwealth Caribbean, the Bahamas has the ability to promote senior officers without permission from Queen Elizabeth II. The country also has adopted it's very own medal award system.

The only combat action the RBDF has ever been involved with has been against Cuba.

On May 10, 1980, the HMBS Flamingo attempted to arrest two Cuban fishing vessels, the Ferrocem 165 and the Ferrocem 54, for poaching in Bahamian waters.

In retaliation, two Cuban MiG-21s invaded Bahamas airspace and fired on the patrol boat. The Cubans sank the ship with their 23 mm cannons, and fired upon Marines in distress in the water. Fenrick Sturrup, Austin Smith, David Tucker and Edward Williams, all Bahamian Defense Force Marines, were killed in the attack. Fifteen crewmen and the Commander made it safely to Duncan Town, on Ragged Island, after being picked up by the very fishing vessels they had boarded.

The poachers were convicted in July 1980, and Cuba eventually admitted responsibility, paying the Bahamas $10 million in compensation for the incident.

[edit] RBDF overhaul

During a radio interview on the Bahamas radio station Love 97 'Issues of the Day' show on December 5, 2006, the RBDF commander stated that there were only two patrol boats operational and there is only one plane in service, but no pilot trained to fly the aircraft. He also stated that up to 25% of the ranks of the Defence Force are 'bad apples' and need to be weeded out.

The commander also stated that there are many programs being studied set to improve the Defence Force's capacity to provide security for Bahamian territorial waters. The future revitalization of the RBDF will include the provision of additional aircraft, increased manpower & salaries, base facilities and command outposts.

[edit] The Force

This force is a strictly naval force, which differs from the rest of its Caribbean counterparts. It is therefore the largest of the Commonwealth Caribbean navies. But because of a culture of almost stonewall secrecy, not much information can be obtained. But from pictures and extensive research, several changes in equipment can be seen. In the beginning British DPM uniform was used. Now U.S. woodland camouflage is used as opposed to the U.S. Army's universal camouflage worn by The Royal Bahamas Police Force Drug Enforcement Unit.

The first weapons used were the Sterling submachine gun and the L1A1 SLR. Now the American M4 rifle is employed for duty. Unlike other Commonwealth Land Forces, there are no regular infantry brigades. Instead, there are only special forces. These are the Special Operations Unit (Green Berets) and The Commando Squadron. This is a sizeable force of at least 500 Special Marine Commandos. Training is conducted with the U.S. Navy Seals in special naval warfare and also with the UK's Royal Marines. A common training practice is to have a marine recruit conduct a two mile swim with a forty pound ruck sack.

The M101-105 mm Howitzer towed artillery is also employed in service.