THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 13, 1995 TAG: 9504130392
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 110 lines
Sea weary, but excited to get home, 12,200 men and women aboard 14 ships and submarines are steaming toward East Coast ports today for a pre-Easter reunion with families and friends whom most have not seen in six months.
The armada, billed as the most formidable since Desert Storm, is made up of the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower battle group and assault ship Nassau amphibious ready group.
It has roamed from the desert coasts of the Persian Gulf to the snow-covered shores of the Adriatic and Black seas as it plied the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean.
It also has broken new ground by taking to sea for the first time women sailors who are permanently assigned to the crews of warships. The Eisenhower became the Navy's first carrier with women as permanent crew members; 415 serve among the 4,967 people aboard.
Joined by three new attack submarines, two new Aegis cruisers and a veteran destroyer - all capable of firing Tomahawk cruise missiles - the battle group also carried with it special 2,000-pound penetration bombs, laser-guided weapons, special operations forces and 2,000 Marines.
For eight of those ships, Norfolk will be their port of call Friday and Saturday. A ninth, the attack submarine Boise, will arrive in Norfolk nextWednesday. Aircraft from the Ike's air wing are scheduled to begin arriving in Norfolk and Virginia Beach about midday today.
The remaining ships will make port in Groton, Conn., Earle, N.J., and Charleston, S.C.
Rear Adm. Daniel J. Murphy, commander of Cruiser Destroyer Group 8 and the battle group's overall commander, praised the efforts of the sailors and Marines.
``They are the best our country has to offer,'' he said in a message to Norfolk. ``They did more than meet every commitment. Wherever they operated, they made a difference.''
The deployment also was accident free, despite 1,539 days of combined steaming and 18,949 hours of flying.
The battle group left Norfolk Oct. 20 headed toward the world's most troubled regions, both in the Adriatic and in the Persian Gulf.
Parts of the group, including the 74-plane air wing aboard the Eisenhower, were diverted to the Persian Gulf for continued enforcement of United Nations sanctions against Iraq.
In early December, in a daring nighttime mission, Marines and Navy SEALS dropped by rope from a helicopter onto a narrow catwalk of a tanker suspected of carrying contraband for Iraq. When an Iraqi crew member tried to attack the boarding party, a SEAL team leader based in Norfolk subdued him with a crack to the cheek with a pistol butt. There was no further opposition.
The battle group's arrival in the gulf region also coincided with renewed belligerence on the part of Iran, which had begun to interfere with the enforcement of U.N. sanctions prohibiting the shipment of Iraqi oil.
The air wing logged 842 sorties during the operations against Iraq and an additional 809 sorties throughout the gulf region, the Navy said.
On the diplomatic front, the battle group participated in 96 military exercises and exchanges with 20 nations. The diplomacy extended ashore as well in visits to 37 cities in 16 countries.
The guided-missile frigate Robert G. Bradley, based in Mayport, Fla., became the first U.S. warship to visit Koper, Slovenia, in the former Yugoslavia.
Sailors and Marines of the Nassau amphibious ready group served 154 days in the Mediterranean as a forward deployed crisis response team. It is a mission that has been nearly an unbroken tradition since Thomas Jefferson was president.
The three ships in the amphibious group are the Nassau, amphibious transport dock Ponce and dock landing ship Gunston Hall. They are scheduled to arrive in Morehead City, N.C., today and Friday and reach Norfolk on Saturday morning.
They participated in 27 port visits to 10 countries. The Ponce became only the second U.S. ship to dock at Odessa, Ukraine, since its independence three years ago. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
FILE PHOTO
Aircraft from the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower will begin arriving
at Norfolk and Virginia Beach at about midday today.
AIR WING AND SHIP ARRIVAL SCHEDULE
Today:
Fighter Squadron 32, 1:30 p.m., Oceana NAS.
Attack Squadron 75, 3:30 p.m., Oceana NAS.
Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 126, 3 p.m., Norfolk
NAS.
Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 40, Detachment 2, time not
released, Norfolk NAS.
Helicopter Combat Support Squadron 8, Detachment 3, time not
released, Norfolk NAS.
Friday:
At Norfolk Naval Station:
Guided-missile cruiser Anzio, 8:30 a.m., Pier 10.
Guided-missile cruiser Cape St. George, 9 a.m., Pier 10.
Destroyer Peterson, 9:30 a.m., Pier 25.
Guided-missile destroyer Kidd, 10 a.m., Pier 24.
Carrier Eisenhower, 3:30 p.m., Pier 11.
Saturday
At Norfolk Naval Station:
Amphibious assault ship Nassau, 8 a.m., Pier 5.
Amphibious transport dock Ponce, 9:30 a.m., Pier 20.
At Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base:
Dock landing ship Gunston Hall, 9:30 a.m., Quaywall East.
Wednesday
At Norfolk Naval Station:
Attack submarine Boise, time and pier location not released.
KEYWORDS: HOMECOMING by CNB