Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 17, 1991                   TAG: 9104170636
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-6   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Medium

15 SHIPS RETURNING FROM GULF

The USS Shreveport was the first of the ships to come into view about 9:30 a.m. and a squadron of E-2C Hawkeye radar planes from the aircraft carrier USS America flew overhead at the same time.

The fatal accident Oct. 30 aboard the Iwo Jima was one of the earliest and most serious accidents causing casualties in Operation Desert Shield, the buildup of U.S. military forces before the war against Iraq was launched.

"It was a high-pressure time, especially the day of the explosion," said Anna Adsit of Watertown, N.Y., whose son Scott is an Iwo Jima crewman.

"We knew our son was near the explosion site. He had just gotten off duty. He was very lucky," she said.

Sherry Kelly of Virginia Beach said her house was prepared for every holiday missed by her husand, Lt. Chuck Kelly, the Iwo Jima's communications officer.

"We've got Christmas set up in one room, Easter in another room and Thanksgiving in another," she said.

The Shreveport was the first of 15 ships returning this week from the Middle East to the Norfolk Naval Base and the nearby Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base.

The America, with a crew of about 5,200 sailors, is to arrive Thursday along with the replenishment oiler USS Kalamazoo. Five more ships are due at the Virginia bases Saturday.

The America, which left Norfolk on Dec. 28 with the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, will be the third carrier to return from Operation Desert Storm.

The USS John F. Kennedy reached Norfolk on March 28 with seven other ships, including the battleship USS Wisconsin, after 7 1/2 months in the Middle East; the USS Saratoga arrived in Mayport, Fla., the same day.

The Roosevelt is still overseas.

The eight ships returning today and the five on Saturday comprised the largest amphibious task force the Navy has launched in recent years. The ships, with about 6,000 sailors, began unloading 7,500 Marines on Monday.

The Marines began training last August for an assault on the beaches of Iraqi-held Kuwait. But they were used instead as a decoy while other U.S. forces launched a ground attack.

"The deception plan . . . will probably go down as one of the most carefully contrived deception operations in military history," said Maj. Gen. Harry Jenkins, commanding general of the 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade.