DATE: Saturday, August 16, 1997             TAG: 9708160264

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: STAFF REPORT 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:   36 lines

CARRIER STENNIS GOES TO ILL WOMAN'S AID

For the third time in four months, the Norfolk-based carrier John C. Stennis has gone to the aid of a civilian in distress at sea.

Coast Guard officials in Portsmouth said the Stennis was asked to evacuate a critically ill 78-year-old woman from the cruise ship Zenith on Friday as the passenger vessel steamed 370 miles east of Elizabeth City. The woman, identified as Tressa Candreva of Howard Beach, N.Y., had complained of a headache and nausea Thursday night and later slipped into a coma.

The Stennis, which was conducting flight training for its air wing, was nearby at the time and launched one of its helicopters to evacuate the woman, the Coast Guard said. She was flown to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital Friday afternoon.

Commissioned into service Dec. 9, 1995, the Stennis has yet to make its maiden deployment, which is scheduled for the spring. It has, however, contributed to more rescues at sea than some ships with decades of service.

On June 5 another helicopter crew from the Stennis braved 30-foot seas to rescue three Canadians from a life raft 180 miles east of Cape Cod, Mass. The victims' 33-foot motor sailor lost its mast in a storm. After they were rescued, the Stennis took them to Halifax, Nova Scotia, a port it had earlier planned to visit.

During the weekend of May 10, the Stennis rushed more than 300 miles to the scene of a 34-foot sailboat in distress 450 miles east of Virginia Beach with three men aboard. A merchant ship, the Able Forest, reached the scene first and rescued two of the men. A third man died. The Stennis used its helicopter to recover the men - one of whom had suffered a punctured lung - from the Able Forest. They came to Norfolk with the ship.

The Navy plans to change the ship's home port to San Diego, Calif., following an around-the-world cruise the Stennis will begin in March.

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