Belgian navy ship Godetia glides up the narrow channel of the Wauri River on the approach to the port of Douala, Cameroon. Small fishing canoes paddle past, their occupants tending nets, oblivious to the gray ship.

Godetia's white ensign crossed with the black-gold-red of Belgium streams proudly from the mast.

The silence on the bridge is broken by the conning officer.
"Gouvernez 042," steer course 042 said in French, bringing the ship to starboard to leave more room for an oncoming vehicle carrier. This carrier towers over Godetia as the two ships pass just a cable length apart. The conning officer gives another soft command which brings the ship back toward the center of the channel, and away from the shallow banks beyond its edge. One would never guess it is Ensign Midiha Mora's first time conning this ship in narrow waters, or that she graduated from the Belgian Military Academy just this past July.

But Mora is not Belgian. She is a naval officer in the Marine nationale (navy) of Benin, the second officer of Beninese patrol ship Zou. She was a top graduate from a Beninese military high school and was selected to attend Belgium's six-year officer training program. She is one of a small number of Africans and just the second woman from Benin to do so. And now, six months after returning to her home country, she has been embarked for the past week aboard Godetia along with nine of her countrymen and five personnel from neighboring Togo while the ship participated in the French navy's Exercise for Maritime Operations (NEMO). In an hour's time, the ship will moor in Douala port and she and her compatriots will return home.

These 15 "ship riders" came aboard to participate in the Belgian navy's Maritime Capacity Building 2016 mission to the Gulf of Guinea, within the framework of Africa Partnership Station.

Godetia has been deployed to African waters since mid-October, conducting a variety of cooperative activities with U.S., European, and African partners designed to enhance maritime security in Africa. As part of that mission, Godetia is embarking ship riders from several countries who will participate in the daily routine aboard and practice shipboard firefighting, navigation, and maritime operations. When the Beninese and Togolese shipriders disembark in Douala, their place will be taken by 15 Congolese and Gabonese ship riders who will sail 2,000 nautical miles with the ship to Dakar, Senegal.

Their participation is made possible through the APS program. One of the four pillars of APS for enhancing maritime security capacity is the development of maritime professionals. Ship rider programs like this allow maritime professionals from African navies the opportunity to see how other navies operate, whether in the areas of shipboard organization, navigation, provision of services to the crew, or damage control.

Godetia's participation in the French NEMO was an added bonus for this group of ship riders. NEMO brought together warships from several nations -- Belgium, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, France, Gabon, Nigeria, Spain, and Togo -- for 46 days of naval operations.

"The chance to experience multi-ship exercises is extremely valuable since most African navies are made up of singly-operated patrol forces," said Cmdr. Chuck Ridgway, Naval Forces Africa (NAVAF)/APS liaison officer aboard Godetia. "The presence of other ships maneuvering, communicating by flag hoist and flashing light, and interacting within the exercise scenario added a level of complexity and interest to the on-board training program. This was a rare opportunity for the European ships to practice task group operations, and there is no doubt the ship riders benefitted from and enjoyed this aspect of their time aboard."

In addition to a standard program of task group exercises, NEMO included a scenario where Godetia had been pirated by French frigate Ventose. Regional and national maritime operations centers (MOCs) along the Gulf of Guinea tracked the two vessels and vectored their own patrol forces to intercept.

"Regional MOCs used the opportunity provided by NEMO to exercise the information-sharing architecture created in the Gulf of Guinea as a result of the Yaounde Code of Conduct," said Belgian navy Lt. Florian van Pimperzele, who was located at the Benin navy MOC in Cotonou. "It's just as important for navies to be able to communicate at [an] operational level like this as it is for ships at sea."

Once on scene, boarding teams were dispatched to retake the pirate vessel and its prey. Godetia was boarded four times over three days, offering training value not just for the visiting boarding teams, but also for the ship riders.

"I'm a fusilier (naval infantry) and qualified boarding team leader", explained Togo navy Ensign Mouzou Banadjuba. "During the boardings, I played the pirate captain. I learned an incredible amount observing and interacting as the bad guy with the other boarding teams, seeing their mistakes and strong points. And I think it was especially helpful to them to be debriefed afterwards by a fellow African."

There were many other highlights for the ship riders. Four of them were invited to Ventose for lunch and returned by helicopter. Other highlights were crossing the equator, and an abandon ship drill followed by swim call in the open ocean.

By far the biggest highlight was also the biggest challenge when Ventose was required to render assistance to another vessel at sea. Godetia's ship riders simulated the crew of a merchant ship which suffered both flooding and fire simultaneously, while several crew members simulated injuries. Although able to contain the damage and provide some first aid, they sent out a distress call and Ventose came to the rescue. The exercises tested their damage control and team coordination skills, and required them to cooperate with Ventose's rescue personnel when they arrived by helicopter.

As Benin navy Petty Officer Pascal Ahouanse said, "I was really stoked. This was a tough exercise, but we nailed it. Most of all, I was proud that Godetia trusted us enough to try it!"

Entrusting others embodies the APS program. After all, not every ship's captain would entrust his vessel to an officer from a different country. Now, with the ship moored in Douala, Mora heads down from the bridge and gets ready to leave the ship. She and the rest of the ship riders will step ashore with one eye crying and one laughing, pleased with what they accomplished, confident in the trust they earned. However, they are sad their time on Godetia has come to an end. And the feelings are mutual; Godetia's crew will be sorry to see their new friends go.

Ridgway summed up the sentiment, "Developing maritime professionals isn't just about exercises and training. It's about relationships -- professional and personal -- about building trust and friendship. I'm not alone in saying that I found some new colleagues this last week, and that I made some new friends."

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For more news from Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet, visit http://www.navy.mil/.