Diego Garcia: The "Unsinkable" Aircraft Carrier

“The middle of nowhere” is a phrase often overused in day-to-day life. To some, the middle of nowhere could be 50 kilometres outside of town, to others, it may be no sign of human infrastructure visible as far as the eye can see. But in the case of Diego Garcia – the largest of a string of islands known as the Chagos Archipelago - centred right in the middle of the Indian Ocean with over 450 miles of vast, treacherous waters between it and the nearest island nation, “the middle of nowhere” certainly fits the bill.

Similar to its far-flung location, the story of this beautiful tropical atoll of only 30 square kilometres is just as fascinating. The island, sometimes nicknamed “The Footprint of Freedom” because of its elongated and hollow shape, once hosted a small number of Chagossians, a people with their own culture, language, religion, and ethnic identity. As a Polynesian people, they ventured across the Indo-Pacific, sailing truly vast distances from island to island in their sturdy outrigger canoes, eventually reaching the islands of East Africa. They colonized the Seychelles and Mauritius, but not the islands of the Chagos Archipelago. Their long journey marked the beginning of many more expeditions to come. A thousand years later, the Portuguese would be the first Europeans to come into contact with the isle.

The Portuguese chanced across the islands in the year 1512, when one of their biannual trade armadas to the Indian subcontinent likely anchored at the island in order to take on water and supplies. When the armada left, it was immediately forgotten by the Portuguese. A full 100 years before the English would colonize Jamestown, when such concepts as colonialism and globalization were nascently being formulated by a variety of thinkers all across Europe, the Portuguese had already rounded the Cape of Good Hope in their explorations. They passed by the islands on the way to India but did not even bother to claim them. The Dutch East India Company (VOC) also neglected to enthral the islands for the Kingdom of the Netherlands despite passing them. It would be 100 years after the Portuguese and the Dutch initially laid eyes on the islands until somebody bothered to demarcate a formal claim, which came in the year 1665 with the French colony of Reunion. It would be another 100 years before the first French slave plantations began to bear fruit. It must have seemed bizarre at the time that such an uninhabited speck may have any strategic, monetary, or even any future use at all beyond its agricultural production. Yet, this is what happened. Over the course of the next 370 years, the island changed hands from Portuguese to Dutch to French to British possession four times. For most of its existence, the Chagos were known as the “oil islands”. A single palm oil plantation on the isle provided its exclusive source of income. It was worked by imported labourers and slaves from the other islands in the western Indian Ocean. The Chagossians, who centuries prior had ventured across the ocean to colonize these lands, lived simple pastoral lives tending to the rows of coconut trees that dotted its shores. And for 170 years before its transformation into the most strategic military base in the Indian Ocean, its main strategic importance to the powers that be was in its exports of palm oil, used as machine lubricant and lamp fuel in an industrializing Europe.

Naval base

As the centuries of foreign rule dragged on, the tiny atoll once again found itself in the possession of another modern powerhouse: the United States military. But don’t let the cars driving on the right side of the road fool you, Diego Garcia is one of the last bastions of the British colonial empire. As the United Kingdom slowly released its colonial landholdings east of the Suez Canal throughout the early to mid-20th century, the United States feared these newly liberated lands and peoples would be ripe for communist influence. As Sino-Soviet vessels increased their presence in the Indian Ocean, the United Kingdom and the United States bypassed Parliamentary and Congressional oversight respectively in 1966, effectively leasing Diego Garcia to the United States.

Construction began on the atoll in 1971, and the evictions of native Chagossians began soon after. Though the projected vision of the military base was only to be used as a communications outpost on the widest portion of the island, the boom in naval trade and activity throughout the Indian Ocean prompted expansion upon expansion. What was once a few buildings scattered across a grassy knoll in the mid-1970s turned into a full-fledged naval dockyard complete with two airstrips, infrastructure for housing 3,000-5,000 troops, several recreational facilities, multiple fully-stocked weapons depots for two branches of the American military, and even stages to host concerts and holiday celebrations. As a result of expanding construction far past what was initially planned, native homes were bulldozed for future construction sites. Chagossians faced a forceful diaspora from their homelands, with the last resident expelled to Mauritius around 1971-1974. Although luck has not been on the side of the Chagossians in the last few centuries, a 2019 United Nations Court proceeding may turn the tables and allow the natives to return to their ancestral lands. The proceeding ruled that all foreign presences on the island should leave immediately, and the land be given back to the people. However, as the actions of the United Nations have no legal binding, only time will tell if the United States and United Kingdom’s militaries will adhere.

Impact and Military Strategic Value

Although the islands are small, their strategic location makes it obvious why despite almost a decade of legal action, headaches, and appeals, the United Kingdom continues to claim ownership of the island. To many observers, the islands are essentially a U.S. military base, given the numerous American assets onboard. But why are the islands under continued British jurisdiction even though the base is a de-facto American installation? This highly unusual arrangement begins to look even more strange when seen from a wider lens. America’s unique tolerance of this arrangement, including all the issues it brings, is a testament to its relevance to U.S. strategy. The United States has a global military presence, and for ease of administration, it is broken up into multiple international commands. Diego Garcia’s strategic location in the western Indian Ocean allows it to be useful to no less than three of America’s global commands. During the Cold War, the United States Africa Command (USAFRICOM) included the base in its African strategy. The United States Central Command (USCENTCOM) relied on the airbase on the island as an "unsinkable aircraft carrier" during the Iranian revolution, the Gulf War, the Iraq war, Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) utilizes the base as part of its forward deployment strategy. As part of the India Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) strategy, the U.S. Marines have over 20 ships in the area. Dubbed the USM Pre-positioning Squadron Two, the ships together have a combined force capable of operating as a credible land component, providing serious deterrence to any littoral states in the Indian Ocean. With the continued American “Pivot to Asia”, kicked off by President Barack Obama, these three commands and the Indo-Pacific region carries on to only gain in importance. However, while Diego Garcia is strategically important, it is also very small, and can theoretically be at the mercy of typhoons, which may hinder military action by preventing the deployment of aircraft or by damaging infrastructure on the island. In addition, it may be useful to analyze what the island can maximally accommodate in terms of infrastructure, weaponry, and troops. The U.S. Military operates two separate military installations on the island. While they share much of the same infrastructure, the Airbase (Camp Justice) and the Naval Base (Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia) are operated independently. The U.S. Marines division, representing the U.S. military, has no infrastructure of its own. The island’s small size is given over to a significantly sized airstrip capable of accommodating large warplanes. First constructed in 1971, the initial runway of 6000 ft was capable of basic support missions. At this time, the base was primarily used as a home base for small reconnaissance aircraft. However, a Taiwanese contractor was hired in the following years. They were able to quickly expand the airstrip, from 6000 ft to 12000 ft in 1974, three years later. What began as simply a communication station on a remote atoll became a major fleet and U.S. armed forces support base by the 1980s.

To conclude, Diego Garcia went through several stages of utility from an Occidental perspective throughout history. From the perceived triviality of the Portuguese and the Dutch, to becoming part of a ubiquitous plantation system of the French and British, to a British “leased” American geopolitical military station. The islands’ position remains of interest and may potentially experience an elevation of geopolitical magnitude given the surging attempts of China to consolidate some influence in the region. Moreover, while the United Nations ruling theoretically prompted momentous alterations to the nature of the island, pragmatic changes have yet to be seen.