thedrifter
02-11-03, 04:38 PM
February 11, 2003
By Alessandra Rizzo
Associated Press
ABOARD THE CARRIER HARRY S. TRUMAN — This nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is in the Mediterranean Sea, far from the Persian Gulf. But that doesn’t mean it’s not ready to take action should a war against Iraq break out.
Officials on board indicated the Truman might be used to launch an attack on Baghdad from a different side rather than concentrating all the U.S. firepower in the Gulf.
“To send strikes and to attack military targets, it’s better to have those attacks coming from all directions and not just one direction,” Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem, the commander of the Truman battle group, said Monday.
If anti-Iraq firepower came only from the Gulf or the south, it would make it easier for Iraq to build defenses, he said. Strikes from various points would pose “a much more difficult problem for the Iraqi military to defend against,” he said.
The Truman is the centerpiece of a battle group that has been in the eastern Mediterranean for almost two months, after leaving its homeport in Norfolk, Va., on Dec. 5. The group comprises 12 ships, including five destroyers, and carries eight aircraft squadrons.
Should war break out against Saddam Hussein, the ship is equipped to fly missions into Iraq and strike ground targets in the region from its current position, using among other weapons its counterattack missiles, similar to Patriot missiles widely used in the 1991 Gulf War.
“The primary missions of a ship really don’t change, no matter where we go,” said Capt. Michael R. Groothousen, the Truman’s commanding officer. He said the carrier can operate “both in a supportive role and in a totally offensive one.”
“That’s the beauty of the flexibility of carrier power,” he said — a capability particularly useful in the global war against terrorism.
In organizing its biggest military buildup in more than a decade, the United States is struggling to persuade allies to host troops and warplanes if needed for a possible attack. The U.S. military power at sea is growing to the largest concentration since the Gulf War.
“I don’t think it matters where we are at, if we’re in the Gulf or here in the Med, we’re still in danger, and we’re still in an area where we can do whatever it is we need to do,” said James H. Yoakem, a 32-year-old aviation maintenance administrator on the Truman from Medina, Ohio.
In addition to the Truman in the Mediterranean, the carrier Constellation battle group and the carrier Abraham Lincoln are operating in the northern Gulf or the Arabian Sea. The carrier Theodore Roosevelt is heading for the area after military exercises in the Caribbean.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is said to be considering more carrier deployments. Possibilities include the dispatch of the Kitty Hawk from its home port in Yokosuka, Japan, the Nimitz from San Diego and the George Washington from Norfolk.
For many of the estimated 5,500 people aboard the Truman, being away from the Gulf doesn’t make them feel any more safe — or any less in the action.
War is “probably inevitable, and wherever we’re at, we’ll do whatever we’re called upon to do,” Yoakem said.
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Copyright 2003 The Associated Press
Sempers,
Roger
By Alessandra Rizzo
Associated Press
ABOARD THE CARRIER HARRY S. TRUMAN — This nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is in the Mediterranean Sea, far from the Persian Gulf. But that doesn’t mean it’s not ready to take action should a war against Iraq break out.
Officials on board indicated the Truman might be used to launch an attack on Baghdad from a different side rather than concentrating all the U.S. firepower in the Gulf.
“To send strikes and to attack military targets, it’s better to have those attacks coming from all directions and not just one direction,” Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem, the commander of the Truman battle group, said Monday.
If anti-Iraq firepower came only from the Gulf or the south, it would make it easier for Iraq to build defenses, he said. Strikes from various points would pose “a much more difficult problem for the Iraqi military to defend against,” he said.
The Truman is the centerpiece of a battle group that has been in the eastern Mediterranean for almost two months, after leaving its homeport in Norfolk, Va., on Dec. 5. The group comprises 12 ships, including five destroyers, and carries eight aircraft squadrons.
Should war break out against Saddam Hussein, the ship is equipped to fly missions into Iraq and strike ground targets in the region from its current position, using among other weapons its counterattack missiles, similar to Patriot missiles widely used in the 1991 Gulf War.
“The primary missions of a ship really don’t change, no matter where we go,” said Capt. Michael R. Groothousen, the Truman’s commanding officer. He said the carrier can operate “both in a supportive role and in a totally offensive one.”
“That’s the beauty of the flexibility of carrier power,” he said — a capability particularly useful in the global war against terrorism.
In organizing its biggest military buildup in more than a decade, the United States is struggling to persuade allies to host troops and warplanes if needed for a possible attack. The U.S. military power at sea is growing to the largest concentration since the Gulf War.
“I don’t think it matters where we are at, if we’re in the Gulf or here in the Med, we’re still in danger, and we’re still in an area where we can do whatever it is we need to do,” said James H. Yoakem, a 32-year-old aviation maintenance administrator on the Truman from Medina, Ohio.
In addition to the Truman in the Mediterranean, the carrier Constellation battle group and the carrier Abraham Lincoln are operating in the northern Gulf or the Arabian Sea. The carrier Theodore Roosevelt is heading for the area after military exercises in the Caribbean.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is said to be considering more carrier deployments. Possibilities include the dispatch of the Kitty Hawk from its home port in Yokosuka, Japan, the Nimitz from San Diego and the George Washington from Norfolk.
For many of the estimated 5,500 people aboard the Truman, being away from the Gulf doesn’t make them feel any more safe — or any less in the action.
War is “probably inevitable, and wherever we’re at, we’ll do whatever we’re called upon to do,” Yoakem said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press
Sempers,
Roger