THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 9, 1996 TAG: 9607090225
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 48 lines
Nearly 450 sailors from the carrier John F. Kennedy spent two days ashore in Dublin, Ireland, unable to return to their anchored ship when bad weather canceled ferries and forced many to sleep on rain-soaked, unsheltered docks.
Some were taken in by Irish families anxious to host Americans from the largest ship ever to visit the port.
The Mayport, Fla.-based ship, on a good-will visit to Ireland and other European ports, has been beset with weather-related and popularity problems since arriving in the North Atlantic last week.
``Dublin is not a bad place to be stranded in,'' said one Norfolk-based chief, who added there were no reports of injuries to the crew members as a result of the unscheduled stay. The Kennedy has about 5,000 crew members aboard.
Visits to the ship had to be stopped Wednesday when wind-whipped waves drove a barge into the ship's hull. Used to accommodate the ferries, the barge had been moored to the starboard side and punched a hole in the hull that will require welding repairs, the Navy confirmed.
The Kennedy left Dublin on schedule Sunday and is to dock in Portsmouth, England, on Thursday where the repairs will be made, said Cmdr. Joe Gradisher, a spokesman for the Atlantic Fleet Naval Air Force, headquartered in Norfolk.
The wife of one Norfolk-based sailor, who spoke to her husband by telephone, said the 450 crew members who had gone ashore for the day about 2 p.m. July 2 could not return until 8 a.m. July 4 when a shuttle boat service could resume.
``They had no place to sleep and some stayed on the docks until the Irish police made them get up and move,'' she said. ``Most had not brought much money with them because they didn't expect to be there that long. It was supposed to be just a few hours.''
Gradisher, the Navy spokesman in Norfolk, confirmed the sailors had to be left ashore. ``Safety is important in anything we do and when you have small boats running back and forth, you don't want to do that'' in bad weather, he said.
Cooks on the ship apparently did get the stranded sailors at least one meal - hot dogs - before they could return.
The Kennedy was able to resume allowing Irish visitors to come aboard on July 4. About 2,500 toured the ship that day, Gradisher said.
The ship had planned to bring up to 10,000 aboard during its six-day visit. But nearly 200,000 applied for the tickets, forcing them to be allocated through a lottery. by CNB