THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 14, 1996 TAG: 9608140308
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 31 lines
A half-dozen Norfolk-based Navy ships left port Tuesday to prepare for an exercise that will mass 70 NATO warships in the North Atlantic and the North Sea.
More than 2,000 Atlantic Fleet sailors will participate in Northern Light and Bright Horizon '96, a weeklong exercise that starts Sept. 8.
Participating from Norfolk are the command ship Mount Whitney, guided-missile destroyer Arleigh Burke, destroyer Thorn, guided-missile frigates Nicholas and Estocin, and the replenishment oiler Leroy Grumman. The attack submarine Boston, based in Groton, Conn., also will join the force.
The exercise is being conducted primarily by forces from Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain.
Norfolk-based units will first travel to Halifax, Nova Scotia, while preparing for a rendezvous with Canadian ships, then visit Reykjavik, Iceland, the first visit by an American warship in seven years.
American officers from Destroyer Squadron 18, based in Norfolk, will have an opportunity to support the overall exercise from the British aircraft carrier Invincible.
One of the goals of the exercise is to test all warfare elements as the NATO ships, aircraft and submarines work together in a realistic at-sea setting.
Planned port visits include Belfast, Ireland; Hamburg, Germany; Liverpool and Portsmouth, England; and Edinburgh and Leith, Scotland. The U.S. forces are scheduled to return in late September. by CNB