Ships in the Night

RoCN Brava and RoCN Ferviente conducting night time exercises off the village of Los Verdes, as part of an impromptu joint training exercise with the 3rd Fleet. Here, they are seen from Brava's ASW helicopter is it departs on patrol.

The joint exercise is the largest training manuever in recent RoCN history, and at present the navy has not released the conclusion date for the affair, dubbed Exercise Rat Trap by the Naval Office.

Furthermore, as part of Exercise Rat Trap, Naval Infantry recruits are being trucked in on unusually short notice to augment the sizes of units already conducting exercises in the area, boosting Naval Infantry presence to almost 200 men. The recruits are being merged into operational units for the duration of the exercise in order to keep the skill level of the factions fairly comparable. The Navy's press release would not comment on whether or not Army infantry will be participating in Rat Trap.

"Our primary concern at this point is securing beachheads for a theoretical landing force," Captain Hector Jones-Gonzales told local reporters curious about the exercise. "We're operating from inland positions and pushing towards the coast at this point, searching for pockets of hostile resistance."

Reporters were allowed unusual access to the beachheads, revealing considerable sandbagging and installation of machine gun nests facing both inland and towards the sea, along with generators, spotlight trailers, and mobile anti-aircraft elements. "We're operating under a scenario in which amphibious elements might attempt a counter assault from the sea," Jones-Gonzales explained, though he denied that this was related last year's leaking of reports claiming that the military was actively developing plans to retake the Galapagos.

Exercise Rat Trap is being utilized as an example of cross-service integration, as RoCN ships, aircraft and helicopters defend the beach heads from potential hostile incursion, and Air Force aircraft provide aerial recon on the actions below, directing troops to potential targets in the dense jungles via thermal and night vision equipment.

The massive operation has mandated the temporary closure of almost a thousand square miles of sea from maritime traffic, severely inconveniencing local fisherman. Naval representatives assure locals that the operation should not cause long term disruptions.