DATE: Thursday, September 4, 1997           TAG: 9709040432

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A9   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: STAFF REPORT 

                                            LENGTH:   62 lines

KENNEDY BATTLE GROUP FACES NEW PROBLEM: TRANQUILITY

Two-thirds of their way through a six-month tour of the Mediterranean, the ships of the John F. Kennedy Battle Group find themselves with an unusual problem: no particular problems.

For the first time in many a cruise, relative tranquility in Europe and Africa has left the Med's visiting battle group and the 6th Fleet's other ships without a focus for their attentions, and with more than the usual amount of time on their hands.

The result: Most of the Norfolk-based ships in the Med have enjoyed a lot of port time - and the Italy-based 6th Fleet has saved some money on fuel.

``It is an unusual cruise,'' Lt. j.g. Rick Robins, food service officer aboard the Norfolk-based cruiser Thomas S. Gates, said as his ship steamed off the Italian coast last week.

``We've been pulling into port for a week, pulling out a week, pulling into port for a week.''

Cmdr. Steve Lehr, skipper of the oiler Monongahela, agreed via satellite telephone that his Norfolk-based ship has ``not been as busy as I've seen us get in the past.

``Our schedule revolves around what those other ships are doing, and the fact that they've been in port has obviously had an impact on how busy we have been,'' Lehr said as the Monongahela visited Antalya, Turkey.

``We've had our fair share - actually, compared to our history, we've had a tremendous amount - of liberty port time,'' he said. ``I've been to a number of places, including Antalya, that in 19 years of commissioned service I had not been to before.''

The battle group has been away from home since April 29, when a handful of ships steamed from Norfolk to join the carrier Kennedy and several other warships based in Mayport, Fla., for the trip across the Atlantic.

The carrier and the Norfolk-based combat support ship Arctic have seen their stay in the sultry Mediterranean punctuated, at least, by a rotation into the Persian Gulf. And most of the Kennedy group, as well as ships on independent deployment like the Monongahela, have participated in several exercises with foreign navies.

But much more than usual, showing the flag has meant lengthy stays on foreign soil. In many ports, crews have busied themselves with charity work - repairing schools and orphanages - as well as giving tours of the ship and seeing the local sights.

The Med's traditional trouble spots have been so calm that when demonstrators injured a couple of American soldiers in Bosnia last week, not a single American surface warship was stationed in the Adriatic.

The calm has made for a ``drastically different'' deployment than his first cruise in 1994, said Lt. Michael Ouimet, the Monongahela's public affairs officer.

``There isn't a hot spot, really, that you can point to and say, `This is where the 6th Fleet will focus its attention,' '' he noted.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Rezabek, a quartermaster on his third cruise aboard the Monongahela, said this trip ``has been more memorable.

``I've seen a lot more things,'' the Norfolk resident said. ``A lot of places I've always wanted to see, I'm getting to see this time.''

The summer's fine weather has made the time ashore particularly welcome. Lehr, the Monongahela's captain, had just one complaint about the deployment's port calls.

``I have a very young crew, a lot of first-deployers aboard,'' he said, ``and I'm afraid they're going to get spoiled.''

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