THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 15, 1997 TAG: 9701150605
SECTION: MILITARY NEWS PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
LENGTH: 40 lines
Weeks of lengthy port visits behind it, the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt has settled down to business in the Adriatic Sea.
Fighters, attack jets and radar planes on the Norfolk-based warship flew 150 sorties Tuesday - a busy day by any Navy's standards - as the carrier steamed in the ``Lion Box,'' a patrol area off the coast of the former Yugoslavia.
``I'm on the bridge, we've got a beautiful sunset, and we're wrapping up flight operations,'' Capt. David Architzel said by telephone as landing jets slammed onto the deck below his station in the carrier's towering island.
``Life is good.''
The 1,092-foot ``TR,'' which left Norfolk as the centerpiece of a 13-ship battle group Nov. 25, spent most of the first six weeks of its six-month deployment unable to launch its air wing, thanks to visits to Spain, France and Italy.
The days since its Jan. 6 departure from Naples have made up the longest unbroken stretch of flying time yet for its air crews.
``It's great, too,'' Architzel said. ``Everybody's really pumped up about it. There's nothing like having a mission and being out here, just doing it.''
Among the few distractions: last weekend's National Football League playoff games. The ``TR'' received the games live via satellite, and broadcast them to work spaces and the mess decks.
``I was surprised by how many Jacksonville Jaguar fans we had,'' Architzel said. ``I didn't watch the games, but at one point I was in the middle of doing something in my office and I heard a roar go up.
``It took a second to realize it was people watching the game,'' the captain said. ``At first, I thought something was wrong.''
The carrier recorded the Green Bay-Carolina game and helicoptered the tape to the nearby guided missile cruiser Leyte Gulf, whose crew watched it about four hours late. The ``TR'' choppered over the AFC game Monday morning.
``The crew really gets excited about stuff like that,'' Architzel said. ``It's right from home.''