Operazione White Crane

Operazione White Crane^[1] (Operation White Crane) was Italy's military relief operation for Haiti, following the 12 January 2010 earthquake.^[2]

Force composition

Aircraft carrier Cavour

Italy is sending:

• aircraft carrier Cavour^[3]
  • Cavour's complement:
    • 6 Navy helicopters^[2][3]
      • 4 SH-3D helicopters^[4]
      • 2 EH-101 helicopters^[4]
    • two operating theatres^[3]
    • 550 ship's crew, medical complement, force protection sailors^[2][3]
  • Shipped on Cavour: (Task Force Genio^[5])
    • 15 Army tracked vehicles^[2][3]
    • 20 Army wheeled vehicles^[2][3]
    • 5 mobile medical vehicles^[2]
    • Army personnel^[3]
      • 200 alpine troops of the 2° reggimento Genio di Trento^{[NB 1][6]}
    • Air Force personnel^[3]
    • Carabinieri military police 13° RGT. "F.G.V."^[2][3]
    • Carabinieri medical unit^[2]
    • mobile hospital^[2]
    • 200 tonnes of food^[4]
• Field hospital^[7]
• C-130^[7]

Mission timeline

On 14 January 2010, Italy dispatched a C-130 loaded with 20 surgeons, some soldiers, some civil protection officers, and a field hospital. It decided to send a warship.^[7]

On 19 January 2010, Cavour set sail for Haiti, leaving La Spezia.^[3][8][9]

As of 29 January 2010, Cavour had picked up a Brazilian relief force at Fortaleza. The Brazilians added two helicopters, a UH-14 Super Puma and a UH-12 Squirrel (AS350^[10]), 11 civilians (6 doctors, 5 nurses), 63 military (25 health professionals).^[11]

On 1 February 2010, Cavour arrived at the Dominican Republic port of Puerto Caucedo, near the capital of Santo Domingo.^[4] The land element, Task Force Genio,^[5] disembarked, and would trek overland to Haiti, due to the damaged docks at Port-au-Prince. Cavour has RO-RO capability.^{[NB 2]} It would depart for Haiti later.^[12]

On 3 February 2010, Cavour had disgorged all the land-mobile land-element.^[13] The overland trip to Port-au-Prince from Puerto Caucedo took 36 hours.^[14]

On 6 February 2010, Cavour arrived at Port-au-Prince.^[15]

As of 7 February 2010, over 25 aid flights using the Italian and Brazilian helicopters over the two days that Cavour had been at Port-au-Prince, had been completed.^[10]

Cavour had remain docked at Port-au-Prince through mid-April.^[16]

Reactions

Several Italians have criticized the use of Cavour since it costs over 200,000 Euros a day to operate, and shipping by air would have been far faster. Others have said, that it is a drop in the bucket compared to the efforts by the US. Some have pointed out, it is one of the largest efforts out of Europe.^[6]

Notes

1. 2nd engineering regiment of Trento
2. RO-RO = roll-on, roll-off – similar to a ferry, where you can drive on and drive off again

References

1. (in Italian) ANSA, "Portaerei Cavour, gli aiuti per Haiti", 4 February 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
2. (in French) Bruxelles2, "Le porte-avions italien Cavour en route vers Haïti", Nicolas Gros-Verheyde, 26 January 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
3. Defense News, "Italian Carrier Cavour Heads to Haiti", Tom Kington, 18 January 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
4. (in Italian) Il Messaggero, "Haiti, arrivata la portaerei Cavour Gli Usa riprendono evacuazione feriti", 1 February 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
5. (in Italian) Qui News, '“Portaerei Cavour” supporto logistico a 24 ore di viaggio', Carmelo Sorbera, 23 February 2010 (accessed 23 February 2010)
6. (in Italian) L'Occidentale, "L'intervento italiano ad Haiti: portaerei, terremotati e sterili polemiche", Gianandrea Gaiani, 6 February 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
7. (in French) Marine Marchande, "Haïti: l'Italie envisage l'envoi d'un navire militaire (ministre)", AFP, 15 January 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
8. (in Italian) Mediapolitika, "Haiti, la terra trema: migliaia fra morti e senza tetto. Berlusconi invia Bertolaso", Lucia Varasano, 22 January 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
9. (in Italian) LRNews, "Haiti. La Cavour in rotta verso Haiti con il contingente della missione umanitaria italo-brasiliana", Ferdinando Pelliccia, 29 January 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
10. (in Italian) Il Velino, "Haiti, continua l'impegno dei militari italiani", 8 February 2010 (accessed 9 February 2010)
11. Nam News Network, "Italian Aircraft Carrier with Brazilian Volunteers to aid Haiti" Archived 26 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Xinhua, 29 January 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
12. (in Italian) Cronaca, "Haiti: portaerei Cavour attracca a Puerto Caucedo", Adnkronos, 3 February 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
13. (in Italian) Virgilio, "Scaricato dalla Cavour tutto il materiale", APCOM, 4 February 2010 (accessed 9 February 2010)
14. (in Portuguese) Panorama Brasil, "Haitianos feridos em terremoto chegam à Itália", Voltar, 8 February 2010 (accessed 9 February 2010)
15. (in Italian) Terra News, "Continuate ad aiutarci Haiti rischia l’oblio", Floriana Bulfon, 7 February 2010 (accessed 9 February 2010)
16. Tandem, "Strengthening ties with Italo communities", Paola Bernardini, 14 March 2010 (accessed 30 March 2010)