DATE: Friday, April 25, 1997                TAG: 9704250594

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   38 lines

FRIGATE CLARK RETURNS HOME FROM BUSY TRIP IN CARIBBEAN

After twice dodging storms off the Virginia Capes, chasing drug runners in the south and showing the flag throughout the Caribbean for 3 1/2 months, there's no place like home for the guided missile frigate Clark.

That's where the Clark will be when the ship pulls into Pier 20 of Norfolk Naval Station at 10 a.m. today.

A strong northeaster threatened the Clark's scheduled arrival, but moved off the coast, leaving room for the 445-foot ship and its 150-man crew to slip into smoother waters overnight.

The storm was nothing like the ``North Wall'' the Clark hit when the ship left Norfolk Jan. 10, said its commanding officer, Cmdr. Christopher C. Cain.

``That got our attention right off the bat,'' Cain said by satellite telephone. The North Wall is a term used to describe what happens when a cold air mass from the North meets the warm waters of the Gulf Stream. In this case, it produced high winds, 20-foot seas and some minor damage to the ship, Cain said.

Wintering in the Caribbean is not the worst of assignments, Cain acknowledged. While the Clark's main mission was to support the Joint Interagency Task Force, East, conducting counter-drug operations, the Clark made welcome port visits to Aruba, Curacao and Trinidad.

The crew repaired an orphanage in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where the sailors delivered toys, books and other material provided by Project Handclasp.

``It was an interesting visit and an eye - opener for the crew, one I know they will never forget,'' said Cain. ``A lot of the crew had tears in their eyes as the children reacted to the home we repaired.''

The Clark also played host to the Caribbean Island Nations Security Conference in Trinidad, welcoming aboard more than 200 heads of state, military officials and police from 28 Caribbean nations.

The Clark's return will be brief. In two to three weeks the ship is scheduled to return to sea for an anti-submarine operation with the Germans.

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