thedrifter
03-28-09, 07:01 AM
After shaky start, ship gets its sea legs
ABOARD THE SAN ANTONIO
The maiden voyage of the San Antonio could be summed up in a few words: Deployment. Breakdown. Repair. Loss. Pirates.
And the crew, steaming home to Norfolk on Friday from a seven-month deployment to the Middle East, would add another: vindication.
The troubled ship survived several oil leaks, a month in the shipyard and the death of a sailor before embarking on a mission most never expected: chasing pirates around the Gulf of Aden.
"This ship may have design problems, but the crew - no way," said Chief Petty Officer Troy Hoover.
The San Antonio and its 360 sailors arrived home on Friday as part of the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, which included the Norfolk-based amphibious assault ship, the dock landing ship Carter Hall, the cruiser Vella Gulf and the destroyer Ramage.
The homecoming brought about 3,000 sailors back to their families, friends and normal lives. Several hundred troops from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit also reunited with their families earlier this week. The Marines trained with allies in the Middle East and did not see combat.
The San Antonio departed Norfolk in late August with a long history for a three-year-old ship. It came in $840 million over budget, failed a series of key sea tests and was cited for numerous flaws that could render the ship at least disabled and at worst a danger to its crew.
After a successful Atlantic transit, the ship's lubrication oil system began to spring leaks. Chief Warrant Officer William Rivera, a supervisor in the engineering department, watched from the control room as his sailors rushed to control the flammable liquid as it drained toward hot engine parts.
No one was injured. The ship survived several more leaks before reaching a shipyard in Bahrain, where it stayed for nearly a month.
News reports of the trouble upset and motivated the crew, Rivera said. "They got mad," he said. "They got mad because they care about the San Antonio."
Once back at sea, the Navy tapped the vessel to become the flagship for a new anti-piracy task force off the Horn of Africa. The big ship, built to deliver Marines to ground service, proved its ability to handle this new mission, said the ship's captain, Cmdr. Eric Cash.
Its small boat crews boarded almost 20 foreign vessels. They received intelligence that a large cargo ship might be carrying explosives, and they responded.
Ensign Carrie Muller, the ship's boarding officer, said the mission filled the sailors with excitement and purpose. They scored a big hit, finding explosives hidden in the cargo. "It was a pretty big high," she said.
But during another anti-piracy mission, the crew lost one of its own, Petty Officer 1st Class Theophilus Kwaku Ansong. The engineman, a native of Ghana, died in a small boat accident in the Gulf of Aden. After a search that yielded only his life jacket, the crew held a memorial service and laid a wreath in the sea for their fallen shipmate.
Cash said Ansong was well respected and loved. The crew's response to the accident and repairs made them stronger, he said.
The ship faces another stay in the yards to permanently fix the leaking oil system and make other improvements. Cash declined to specify the amount and type of repairs needed, but he said they would be done during a regular, post-deployment stay in the shipyard.
"We can overcome. We can persevere," he said in the ship's war room. "We can win."
A little after 6 a.m. Friday morning, the ship's announcer played a wake-up song with a verse about beating low expectations.
Sailors, accompanied by family and friends aboard for a final overnight, remained buoyant as the ship cut through a thick fog.
Medic Joe Nayock, a petty officer second class, showed his extended family around his floating office. Nayock, 28, joined the San Antonio almost three years ago. The many repairs and upgrades have made it seem like a different ship, he said.
The crew accomplished all that was asked of it, he said. "This ship had been through a lot," he said. "We could push through this."
Petty Officer 2nd Class Richard Fife pressed his dress blues near his bunk. In just a few hours, the crew would be dressed up to man the rails as the ship glided into Norfolk Naval Station.
Fife, 30, thought about his two boys, Kage, 5, and Keegan, 4, soon to be waiting at the pier. It was a long, tough deployment, he said.
He was ready to jump in one of his old Jeeps and look for an off-road trail where the water's a different color, "put the boys in," he said, "and find a mud hole."
Louis Hansen, (757) 446-2322, louis.hansen@pilotonline.com
Ellie
ABOARD THE SAN ANTONIO
The maiden voyage of the San Antonio could be summed up in a few words: Deployment. Breakdown. Repair. Loss. Pirates.
And the crew, steaming home to Norfolk on Friday from a seven-month deployment to the Middle East, would add another: vindication.
The troubled ship survived several oil leaks, a month in the shipyard and the death of a sailor before embarking on a mission most never expected: chasing pirates around the Gulf of Aden.
"This ship may have design problems, but the crew - no way," said Chief Petty Officer Troy Hoover.
The San Antonio and its 360 sailors arrived home on Friday as part of the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, which included the Norfolk-based amphibious assault ship, the dock landing ship Carter Hall, the cruiser Vella Gulf and the destroyer Ramage.
The homecoming brought about 3,000 sailors back to their families, friends and normal lives. Several hundred troops from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit also reunited with their families earlier this week. The Marines trained with allies in the Middle East and did not see combat.
The San Antonio departed Norfolk in late August with a long history for a three-year-old ship. It came in $840 million over budget, failed a series of key sea tests and was cited for numerous flaws that could render the ship at least disabled and at worst a danger to its crew.
After a successful Atlantic transit, the ship's lubrication oil system began to spring leaks. Chief Warrant Officer William Rivera, a supervisor in the engineering department, watched from the control room as his sailors rushed to control the flammable liquid as it drained toward hot engine parts.
No one was injured. The ship survived several more leaks before reaching a shipyard in Bahrain, where it stayed for nearly a month.
News reports of the trouble upset and motivated the crew, Rivera said. "They got mad," he said. "They got mad because they care about the San Antonio."
Once back at sea, the Navy tapped the vessel to become the flagship for a new anti-piracy task force off the Horn of Africa. The big ship, built to deliver Marines to ground service, proved its ability to handle this new mission, said the ship's captain, Cmdr. Eric Cash.
Its small boat crews boarded almost 20 foreign vessels. They received intelligence that a large cargo ship might be carrying explosives, and they responded.
Ensign Carrie Muller, the ship's boarding officer, said the mission filled the sailors with excitement and purpose. They scored a big hit, finding explosives hidden in the cargo. "It was a pretty big high," she said.
But during another anti-piracy mission, the crew lost one of its own, Petty Officer 1st Class Theophilus Kwaku Ansong. The engineman, a native of Ghana, died in a small boat accident in the Gulf of Aden. After a search that yielded only his life jacket, the crew held a memorial service and laid a wreath in the sea for their fallen shipmate.
Cash said Ansong was well respected and loved. The crew's response to the accident and repairs made them stronger, he said.
The ship faces another stay in the yards to permanently fix the leaking oil system and make other improvements. Cash declined to specify the amount and type of repairs needed, but he said they would be done during a regular, post-deployment stay in the shipyard.
"We can overcome. We can persevere," he said in the ship's war room. "We can win."
A little after 6 a.m. Friday morning, the ship's announcer played a wake-up song with a verse about beating low expectations.
Sailors, accompanied by family and friends aboard for a final overnight, remained buoyant as the ship cut through a thick fog.
Medic Joe Nayock, a petty officer second class, showed his extended family around his floating office. Nayock, 28, joined the San Antonio almost three years ago. The many repairs and upgrades have made it seem like a different ship, he said.
The crew accomplished all that was asked of it, he said. "This ship had been through a lot," he said. "We could push through this."
Petty Officer 2nd Class Richard Fife pressed his dress blues near his bunk. In just a few hours, the crew would be dressed up to man the rails as the ship glided into Norfolk Naval Station.
Fife, 30, thought about his two boys, Kage, 5, and Keegan, 4, soon to be waiting at the pier. It was a long, tough deployment, he said.
He was ready to jump in one of his old Jeeps and look for an off-road trail where the water's a different color, "put the boys in," he said, "and find a mud hole."
Louis Hansen, (757) 446-2322, louis.hansen@pilotonline.com
Ellie