THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 7, 1994 TAG: 9409070453
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
A presidential visit, port calls in England, France, Greece and Turkey, sailing around Gibraltar, through the Suez Canal and into the Persian Gulf . . George Washington began last May, recruiting new sailors would be easy.
In telephone interviews Tuesday from the gulf, a half-dozen of the Norfolk-based ship's sailors and airmen used words like ``exciting,'' ``fascinating'' and ``fantastic'' to describe the Washington's current deployment.
``They're going to have a lot of sea stories to tell when they get back,'' said Rear Adm. Alexander Krekich, commander of the George Washington battle group. When the ship made a night passage through the Suez last week, he recalled, about 1,000 crew members came up on deck to watch.
Though the Washington has sailed near two of the world's trouble spots - Bosnia and Iraq - and its pilots have flown missions over both, the ship has not been involved in hostilities. Indeed, several sailors said their biggest challenge is coping with the temperatures and humidity of summer in the Middle East.
``The biggest problem is the heat,'' particularly on the flight deck, said Petty Officer Collin O'Hara of Jacksonville, Fla. ``You've gotta stay hydrated up there.''
O'Hara, a jet engine mechanic, is on his third deployment. He's been souvenir hunting in Greece and Turkey and sightseeing in Israel. ``This one is pretty interesting,'' he said.
O'Hara was among the crew members who got to meet President Clinton when the commander-in-chief visited the ship in June. Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, came aboard for ceremonies commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy. Despite Clinton's sometimes-chilly relations with the military, O'Hara and other sailors said they were happy to see and meet him.
``He was received quite warmly,'' O'Hara said. ``I think he walked away with a good feeling. He was warm, and the crew was warm to him.''
The George Washington is the Navy's newest flattop, and like many of the crew is on its first deployment. Still, ``everything that we're doing has been tried, sometime or another,'' said Petty Officer Darrell Hood of Hampton, so there have been few glitches.
Hood, the Washington's sailor of the year, is one of the ship's air-traffic controllers. He works amid glowing banks of radar screens in a control center just under the flight deck. Incoming jets hit the deck and catch restraining cables almost directly over the controllers, so the men below know immediately when the pilots miss their targets.
After the D-Day ceremonies, the Washington sailed down the west coast of Europe and into the Mediterranean. The ship was involved in exercises about 950 miles off the coast of Bosnia in June, but quickly steamed closer and launched EA-6B Prowler jets to support NATO air strikes against Serbian forces.
Since the ship entered the gulf last week, its planes have helped enforce the no-fly zone in southern Iraq.
Krekich described the gulf operations as routine, though only a few U.S. carriers have been so close to Iraq since the Persian Gulf war. ``We're taking necessary precautions, as we would in any theater,'' he said.
Pilots making the runs over Iraq are seeing a substantial amount of helicopter traffic and some fixed-wing aircraft around the no-fly zone, said Lt. Chris Cantarella of Virginia Beach, an F-14 co-pilot. ``If we see somebody there, we ask them to leave,'' he said, adding that there haven't been any problems getting such requests honored. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
The Norfolk-based aircraft carrier George Washington passed through
the Suez Canal last week. Though the Washington has sailed near two
of the world's trouble spots - Bosnia and Iraq - and its pilots have
flown missions over both, the ship has not been involved in
hostilities.
by CNB