THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 11, 1994 TAG: 9408110521
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 46 lines
More than 1,600 sailors will leave Norfolk today aboard two amphibious ships bound for the coast of Haiti, where they will relieve a similar group returning for crew rest and ship maintenance.
The amphibious assault ship Wasp and amphibious transport dock Nashville are scheduled to leave Norfolk at mid-morning for an estimated two-month deployment.
A task force of 1,800 Marines and sailors from Camp Lejeune and New River Air Station in North Carolina will board the ships in Morehead City on Friday.
The Wasp, a helicopter and troop carrier, and the Nashville are to be used in case an estimated 3,500 Americans in Haiti have to be evacuated. They also could be used if President Clinton issues an order to invade the island nation to restore its ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
The deployment will allow a similar-sized group of sailors and Marines to return. Those ships, led by the 2nd Fleet command ship Mount Whitney, are the assault ship Inchon and amphibious ships Trenton, Portland and Spartanburg County. They are carrying members of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit from Lejeune and New River.
Those ships are expected back in Norfolk on Wednesday, with the Mount Whitney returning the following day.
Command of the operations off Haiti is to switch from the 2nd Fleet commander, Vice Adm. Jay L. Johnson, to Rear Adm. William H. Wright IV, aboard the Wasp. Wright is commander of Joint Task Force 120 and responsible for overseeing joint force operations in the Caribbean that are associated with Operation Support Democracy. The task force includes about 35 Navy and Coast Guard ships operating off Haiti.
The Wasp returned from the Caribbean July 18 for regular maintenance. The 650-Marine task force aboard the Wasp returned July 17 to Lejeune and New River.
The sailors and Marines in the Inchon ready group had been home for 12 days following a six-month deployment to the Mediterranean Sea and off Somalia when they were ordered to sail again on July 7 for the Caribbean. by CNB