THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 12, 1996 TAG: 9610120269
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 67 lines
The Navy's Fleet Week Hampton Roads '96 reached its peak at mid-day Friday, with ships and planes parading past Norfolk's downtown waterfront as 2,000 white-suited sailors and an awestruck civilian crowd looked on.
Breaking ranks just after Adm. William J. Flanagan Jr., commander-in-chief of the Atlantic Fleet, told them, ``This is our birthday - let's party,'' the sailors crowded the Town Point Park seawall to watch their shipmates at work.
Two air-cushioned landing craft, skimming four feet off the Elizabeth River, screamed in from the west, forcing the tour boat Spirit of Norfolk, leaving Waterside at the same time, to dart out of their path.
SEAL Team members jumped from an H-46 Sea Knight helicopter with their inflatable boat, motor and weapons in a demonstration of how they get to work.
The frigate Elrod steamed by from the east, its crew manning the rails, as a flight of CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters rumbled overhead. The frigate Kauffman cruised past as the hum of propeller-driven E-2C Hawkeye radar planes filled the air.
The Coast Guard cutter Bear and submarine Hampton passed in review, the flag-bedecked Hampton opening its forwardmissile tubes in a rare display of where the deadliest of its weapons are kept.
More helicopters beat the air as Navy tugs sprayed water from their fire hoses and F-14 Tomcats and F/A-18 Hornets roared overhead. The coastal patrol boat Cyclone and several landing craft paraded by, and another chopper dropped in to pluck two SEAL Team members from the water on the run using a wood-and-rope Jacob's ladder.
The hour-long event seemed to end in mere minutes.
The fast-paced program was just what Adm. Flanagan wanted to show off his sea service, and to cap a week-long event honoring the Navy's 221st birthday and celebrating the Navy's presence in the seven area cities.
Although some in the crowd lamented that there were fewer civilians watching than they expected, Flanagan said he expects Fleet Week to grow over the years, especially as it gains business sponsors.
``We will take a look this year and go to work to make this really big,'' he said.
NationsBank seemed to be the largest single civilian group in the audience, with employees wearing their company's logo on T-shirts and handing out American flags. Aside from spouses and children who accompanied their Navy members, it appeared the event drew few from the business district. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN
The Virginian-Pilot
A formation of Sea Knight helicopters flies over onlookers at Town
Point Park in Norfolk during Fleet Week celebrations Friday.
FLEET WEEK
The Navy's Fleet Week celebration continues today and Sunday with
the following events:
Free concerts across the area, including Molly Hatchet and The
Georgia Satellites at Town Point Park at 6 o'clock tonight.
Open houses aboard Navy vessels in downtown Norfolk and at
Portside, the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth the Little Creek
Naval Amphibious Base and the Great Bridge lock.
A Civil War re-enactment at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in
Portsmouth at 10 a.m. today and a chili cook-off at Nauticus at
noon.
A 5-kilometer run at the Norfolk Naval Station at 10 a.m. today
and an F-14 flyover at the Suffolk Peanut Fest at 2 p.m. today. by CNB