DATE: Saturday, April 12, 1997              TAG: 9704120293

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: STAFF REPORT 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   61 lines

NORFOLK-BASED KEARSARGE TO LEAVE EARLY TOWARD ZAIRE

As turmoil teetered toward violence in Zaire's capital Friday, the Defense Department confirmed plans to order the Norfolk-based amphibious assault ship Kearsarge to the West African coast two weeks before it was scheduled to begin a six-month overseas deployment.

The ship, with 1,200 Norfolk-based sailors aboard, will leave the Norfolk Naval Station Tuesday to relieve another Norfolk assault ship, the Nassau, that is now standing by in the Gulf of Guinea.

On the way, the Kearsarge will pick up some 1,400 Marines from Camp Lejeune, N.C. - members of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit who could be called upon in coming days to help evacuate some 500 Americans from Kinshasa, Zaire's capital.

Family members of the Kearsarge's crew were told several days ago that the 844-foot ship would likely leave early.

The decision came as time ticked away on an ultimatum from Zairian rebels that dictator Mobutu Sese Seko quit his post, or see his capital overrun by rebel forces. Rebels already control much of the landlocked country, and their radio broadcasts have urged foreigners to leave Kinshasa at once.

The Nassau, which less than a month ago plucked stranded Americans from Albania when order disintegrated there, was soon thereafter dispatched to monitor growing unrest in the African nation.

It has been poised to send its air wing of helicopters into Kinshasa, located about 300 miles inland on Zaire's western border.

But Navy policy requires that sailors and ships deploy for no longer than six months at a stretch, when possible, and the Nassau is to reach that point in May. Its departure would leave the African coast unguarded for weeks, were the Kearsarge to leave Norfolk on its scheduled April 29 deployment date.

By sending the Kearsarge early, the Defense Department will ``ensure continuous presence of forces capable of conducting noncombatant evacuation operations in Zaire, if requested by the Department of State,'' a department memo prepared for reporters said.

It added: ``This positioning of forces does not represent a commitment by the United States to any particular course of action.''

``The whole point is that there's not a gap,'' said Ensign Kevin Stephens, a spokesman for the U.S. Atlantic Command in Norfolk.

``They're going to get there on time to make a turnover and get the Nassau home at about the time she was originally scheduled to get back.

``They might not be right next to each other when they turn over, but you want them to turn over in that theater, in that particular area, so that we have continuous coverage.''

Two other ships assigned to the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group, plus nine ships in the carrier John F. Kennedy Battle Group, will leave Norfolk and Mayport, Fla., for the deployment, as planned, on April 29.

One of those ships is the Norfolk-based Ponce, which last year was deployed early to relieve the assault ship Guam off the Liberian coast. MEMO: Staff writers Jack Dorsey and Earl Swift contributed to this

report. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

U.S. Navy

Kearsarge will relieve the Nassau, which is waiting to evacuate

Americans if necessary.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu