THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 24, 1996 TAG: 9602240302
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: CHARLENE CASON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ABOARD THE USS AMERICA LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines
Chief Petty Officer Paul Snead has spent most of his Navy career aboard this aging aircraft carrier; it's the only ship on which he's ever been stationed.
Today, as the America pulls into Pier 12 at about 2 p.m., Snead knows it's the last time he'll step off the steam-powered ship's brow after a Mediterranean cruise.
The return is bittersweet, full of the happiness of homecoming and the satisfaction of successful bombing missions over Bosnia, but it is also tinged with sadness because the 31-year-old ship is being decommissioned in August.
``It's good to be a part of the history of this last deployment, especially since this was my first duty station,'' Snead said.
The crew - 2,700 sailors and Marines, and more than 2,000 airmen - have been on a six-month deployment to the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas.
In a closing congratulatory peptalk Rear Adm. William V. Cross II said, ``The good thing about our mission was that it had a direct impact on the peace process (in Bosnia) we're seeing today.
``I can't think of a more fitting crew, the very best, for this last cruise. You are great war fighters, patriots and what we stand for. I salute you, and congratulate you for a tremendous job.''
Two days before its scheduled homecoming, the crew was packing personal belongings; equipment and aircraft were being polished for a final inspection; plaques and pictures had come down off ready room walls, bound for new ready rooms.
Crew members weren't just going home; they were taking their home with them. They had lived onboard, underway, 154 of the last 181 days. They were at sea 85 percent of the time - normally, they're out no more than 60 percent.
Because the America is being decommissioned, it had to undergo a final, last-minute ``INSURV,'' an at-sea checkover by the Navy's board of inspections and survey. A 125-member inspection team flew out to the carrier a few days ago to look at every inch of its 1,069 feet.
Snead, who has been in the Navy 12 1/2 years, supervises 24 sailors who maintain and repair the carrier's 10 weapons elevators. The last week of the cruise was particularly busy, he said, because the live ammunition had to be unloaded, and the department was preparing for the inspection.
``A lot of people get distracted by thoughts of home when it gets close but, for the weapons department, we were busy crossing the Atlantic. It helped calm my nerves and my anxiety to stay busy,'' Snead said.
All the work the crew did preparing for the final checkover paid off, according to one inspection team member.
``This is the most conscientious crew I've ever seen,'' said Denise Hofmann, a mechanical engineering technician whose job is to inspect the habitability of sailors.
``They really did some polishing for us, which is very unusual, knowing they were going to be leaving their ship for good.''
Cmdr. Ed Rosequist could practically call the America home. The E2C Hawkeye flight officer has been stationed aboard the ship four times in the past seven years.
``The crews continue to amaze me,'' he said. ``One shift launches aircraft for as long as it takes, if it takes all day and all night.''
By 11 a.m. Friday the rain stopped and the sun came out, bouncing off a silver sea, giving the first wave of the scheduled flyoff a chance to leave the America behind for the friendly faces of home.
Dozens of crew members came out to take pictures and make videos of the last planes to fly off the America.
Petty Officer Third Class Chuck Trimpey is a 28-year-old avionics technician who is single and lives on the ship even when it's in port.
Trimpey, who has been in the Navy more than 10 years, has been stationed on the ship twice, re-enlisting onboard both times.
``It's the only ship I've ever been on so, yeah, I'm a little sentimental about it,'' he said. ``Basically, it's home.'' ILLUSTRATION: AMERICA FACTS
The America's Carrier Air Wing One flew more than 12,000 sorties
while the America was in the Adriatic Sea, sometimes flying 120-130
missions a day.
VF-82 Marauders, an F/A-18 Hornet squadron from Jacksonville,
Fla., was the only squadron to drop ordnance on Bosnia during the
deployment.
There were 11,318 ``traps,'' or arrested landings, onboard the
America during its final deployment. The number of ``shots'' off the
carrier was equal to the number of traps. The total number of traps
in Desert Storm was 10,000.
AMERICA BATTLE GROUP COMES HOME
STEVE STONE
The Virginian-Pilot
[For a copy of the anticipated schedule, see microfilm on page A8
for this date.]
by CNB