DATE: Wednesday, February 26, 1997          TAG: 9702260481

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: STAFF REPORT 

                                            LENGTH:   37 lines

ROOSEVELT STARTS DOWNHILL SIDE OF ITS SIX-MONTH OCEANGOING STINT

The Norfolk-based carrier Theodore Roosevelt marked the halfway point in its six-month deployment to the Mediterranean Sea this week, with the head of the Atlantic Fleet's air forces assuring the big ship's sailors that they'll head home on time.

Vice Adm. John J. Mazach told hundreds of sailors on the hangar bay that the Mayport, Fla.-based carrier John F. Kennedy was performing its workups without snags, in preparation for relieving the homebound ``T.R.'' in May.

``I can assure you, your schedule as you have it now is a good schedule,'' Mazach said Sunday.

His comments came as the T.R. and 10 other Norfolk-based ships marked the three-month point in their cruise, which has taken them throughout the Med and will, next month, send the carrier into the Persian Gulf.

``Spirits are high,'' the T.R.'s skipper, Capt. David Architzel, said Monday night, as the carrier steamed toward a port call on the island of Corfu, off the western coast of Greece, that begins today. ``Some cheers went up when the admiral mentioned that.''

The Roosevelt, which has spent much of the month in exercises with the French aircraft carrier Clemenceau, a British task force and Mediterranean navies, has been on station in the Med since early December, when it relieved the Norfolk-based carrier Enterprise.

Since then, the ship has steamed more than 13,700 miles, pumped more than 6.75 million gallons of fuel into its aircraft, and pulled alongside other ships to take on or offload supplies 15 times.

``There are all sorts of ways to measure time passing on a deployment - laundry days left to go, pizza nights left to go,'' Architzel said. ``Right now there isn't much focus on going home. We want to stay away from that - it's an unforgiving business when you get complacent.'' KEYWORDS: U.S.S. ROOSEVELT DEPLOYMENT

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