THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 15, 1996 TAG: 9607150034
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES SCHULTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 68 lines
Sunday afternoon, 5-year-old Ryan Torres kept his eyes fixed on the submarine tender Emory S. Land, as the ship was nudged alongside Pier 20 at the Norfolk Naval Station. Ryan waved and jumped up and down as he caught sight of his mother on the Land's flight deck.
``Hey, Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!'' Ryan yelled, amplifying his shouts by cupping his hands around his mouth. ``Can you see me? Did you see the hurricane go real fast?''
Ryan's mom, Petty Officer 2nd Class Susanne Torres, was one of 1,500 aboard the Land, among 20 Navy ships that returned to port Sunday in the aftermath of Hurricane Bertha. In all, some 54 vessels - 48 from the Norfolk base - and 14,000 sailors and officers took part in what the Navy calls a ``storm evasion deployment.''
The second and final leg of the fleet's arrival began at 7:30 Sunday morning and was due to conclude by Sunday evening.
``It went extremely well,'' said Cmdr. Paul Weishaupt, a Navy spokesman who took to sea aboard the flagship Mount Whitney. ``We were far enough away from the winds that they didn't give us any trouble.''
The fleet headed more than 400 miles east and then moved southeast of the Virginia coast, Weishaupt said, where ocean swells ran little more than 5 feet. He said that commanders used the sea time for ship and fleet training.
``Our sailors are very experienced in getting under way quickly and getting out of harm's way,'' Weishaupt said. ``You make good use of the time when you're out there. Let's just hope another (hurricane) doesn't come around anytime soon.''
The seas may have been relatively gentle, but the first day out was rough for Petty Officer 2nd Class Sandra Crews, of the Land. Seasickness drove her to sick bay for medication, which settled her stomach for the remainder of the deployment.
``Medical was pretty busy throughout the whole time we were gone,'' said Crews, of Virginia Beach. ``They gave out a lot of seasickness pills.''
Now that she was ashore, Crews said, she planned to gather with family and friends to celebrate her birthday.
A family celebration was also in the works for Chief Petty Officer Lenard Lanham, according to his wife, Dehigh. She and 12-year-old son Lenard Jr. were dockside to welcome home the elder Lenard. Dehigh, a former Navy cook, said she was planning a Sunday night cookout for her family.
Despite her own 8-year Navy career, Dehigh said she and her four children miss her husband whenever he goes to sea.
``It's always rough - especially when it's unexpected,'' she said. ``But I guess that goes with the job. To say that deployments are getting kind of old would be an understatement.''
As for the Torres family, Bertha interrupted a planned family reunion. Husband William, a Marine lance corporal, returned to Norfolk Friday from three months of training to find his house empty. Son Ryan was with grandparents in Texas.
``When I get home, nobody's there,'' William said. ``I'm just glad they're back. We're planning a home-cooked meal. Tomorrow it's back to work as usual.''
As she came down the Land gangplank, Susanne Torres quickly made her way over to husband and son for hugs and kisses. She scooped Ryan up her arms for more kisses and a long hug. Susanne said she was ready to relax.
``I'm going to enjoy my son,'' Torres said. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
Chart by Steve Stone/The Virginian-Pilot
Tracker's Guide
KEYWORDS: HURRICANE BERTHA U.S. NAVY by CNB