THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 11, 1996 TAG: 9607110386
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY EARL SWIFT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 84 lines
Tugboats nosed against its flanks, the amphibious transport dock ship Nashville backed from its berth at the Norfolk Naval Station Wednesday, bound for the safety of the open sea.
In its wake it left a waterfront of racing forklifts, cargo-laden cranes and hustling sailors, as the Norfolk base scrambled to dispatch 47 other ships and some 14,000 of their crew members beyond the reach of advancing Hurricane Bertha.
The evacuation came amid a Navy sortie of all ships and submarines on the East Coast, prompted by forecasts that the hurricane could pound naval installations with damaging winds and high water.
``We've been keeping an eye on this storm for a couple of days,'' Cmdr. Paul Weishaupt, a spokesman for the 2nd Fleet, said as the Nashville's crew threw off the lines binding their ship to the pier.
``Yesterday, we sent word to the skippers to make the necessary preparations they needed to make to get underway in 24 to 36 hours: Get food aboard, fuel, supplies, repairs made.
``This morning we looked at the storm's track and decided that there was a possibility that it could do some real damage.''
As Weishaupt spoke, tugs shoved the repair-idled nuclear attack submarine Atlanta from its pier and toward a safer berth at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, the sub's black-painted sail still sheathed in scaffolding.
Crewmen of the attack sub Sunfish scurried along its spine, readying the boat for duty in the Atlantic.
``We got a load of food on board this morning,'' said Petty Officer 2nd Class Jeffrey Colvin, a mess specialist aboard the Sunfish. ``We were planning to get underway, anyway. We're just doing it a bit quicker than we'd planned.''
The sortie, ordered by Atlantic Fleet commander Adm. William J. Flanagan Jr., sent all the base's seaworthy vessels - among them, slab-sided amphibious assault ships, hulking tenders and lean frigates - to the safety of open water, where the ships can outmaneuver the hurricane if it sweeps toward them.
``We could be close to shore. We could be way, way out there,'' Weishaupt said. ``It all depends on what the storm does.''
Other ships were left behind: Several are tied up in area shipyards for major repair and maintenance, and a few at the naval station's piers were unable to get underway.
``They'll just secure them as best they can, and ride it out,'' Weishaupt said.
The evacuation did not include aircraft carriers, none of which were in port when the order came.
A fleet spokesman said the sortie's cost would probably run into the millions of dollars, but was an insurance policy against the possible loss of billions in hurricane-spawned damage.
If left at the dock, large ships could be pummeled by winds, and smaller vessels by waves, into collisions with piers and other ships.
The number of departing craft - and the demands of their powerplants, some of which take several hours to ready for sea - dictated the hourly departures.
``You have so many hours to get a ship out of port and get it far enough out to sea that it's safe,'' one Navy lieutenant said. ``As fast as our ships can go, it still takes a respectable amount of time to get them out of here.
``Now, multiply that by 40 or more ships.''
Each ship left behind a hurricane assistance team - typically, two officers and a half-dozen petty officers - to handle the needs of the crew's dependents during the evacuation.
Across town at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base, sailors prepared the Navy's fleet of landing craft air cushions, or LCACs - high-speed hovercraft used in amphibious attacks - for a possible evacuation today up the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River to the Marine Corps' Quantico, Va., base.
Naval air stations along the East Coast also were preparing to hangar some aircraft and to evacuate others to inland havens.
Weishaupt acknowledged that getting the fleet to sea on short notice was difficult, but noted that the Norfolk base is ``practiced at this.''
``We did the same thing for Hurricane Felix last year,'' he said. ``Pretty much the same people are here now.'' MEMO: Staff writer Steve Stone contributed to this report. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by VICKI CRONIS, The Virginian-Pilot
Seaman Renee Kojo helps with the move of the attack sub Sunfish
Wednesday from Norfolk Naval Station.
Photo by VICKI CRONIS, The Virginian-Pilot
A tug backs away from the Nashville as it leaves Norfolk Naval
Station on Wednesday in advance of Hurricane Bertha.
KEYWORDS: HURRICANE BERTHA U.S. NAVY EVACUATION by CNB