Five AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter gunships, supported by CH-53E Super Stallion heavy-lift helicopters, were dispatched from ships of the USS Bonhomme Richard Amphibious Ready Group (ARG)--with the 13th MEU embarked--in the Arabian Sea and sent to assist soldiers of the U.S. 10th Mountain Division and 101st Airborne Division, and special operations forces from several other nations, that had been battling the enemy in a mountainous area pocked with cave complexes. Several Army AH-64 Apache helicopter gunships had been damaged by gunfire, as well as two MH-47 Chinook transport helicopters.

The enemy fire directed at the MH-47s cost the life of the first member of the sea services to die as the direct result of enemy action in Afghanistan. A Navy SEAL, Aviation Boatswain's Mate 1st Class Neil Roberts, apparently fell from the cargo door of a Chinook as it lifted off to avoid enemy fire. He was captured and killed by enemy forces. Seven Army and Air Force special operations personnel also were killed in the same battle. U.S. spokesmen reported, as of 10 March, that "hundreds" of enemy personnel also had been killed in the fighting.

Carrier-based F/A-18 and F-14 strike fighters and Air Force F-15E fighters, B-52 bombers, and A-10 and AC-130 attack aircraft were being used around the clock to support the U.S. and coalition forces in Operation Anaconda, the code name for the effort to flush out and destroy the enemy forces concentrated in the mountains near Gardez. Carrier Air Wing Nine (CVW-9) F/A-18C and F-14A strike fighters launched from the Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier (CVN) USS John C. Stennis also were heavily committed to Operation Anaconda. The French Navy's nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle launched Super Etendard strike aircraft in support of the operation, and French Air Force Mirage 2000 strike fighters also joined in the air-support effort.

Other Phase One Developments

Operation Enduring Freedom has resulted in a new Navy record of time deployed without a port call. The Nimitz-class CVN USS Theodore Roosevelt--with CVW-1 embarked--spent 170 days at sea without a port call since departing Norfolk, Va., before finally pulling into Bahrain, breaking a 152-day record set in 1980 by her sister ship, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, in 1980 during the hostage crisis in Iran. The Theodore Roosevelt was relieved on 6 March by the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy, which, with CVW-7 embarked, sailed through the Suez Canal to the Arabian Sea in early March.

The USS Wasp ARG--with the 22nd MEU embarked--has departed the U.S. East Coast to relieve the USS Bataan ARG and the 26th MEU in the Arabian Sea. The USS Peleliu ARG--with the 15th MEU embarked--returned to the U.S. West Coast in early March.

An international flotilla of approximately 60 naval ships--including 20 U.S. Navy ships--and an air armada of maritime patrol aircraft have been engaged in maritime-interdiction operations in the Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf, searching for al Qaeda operatives trying to escape the area, as well as enforcing U.N. sanctions against Iraq. During the course of these operations, the Ticonderoga-class Aegis guided-missile cruiser USS Vella Gulf and its Coast Guard law-enforcement detachment seized the coastal tanker M/V Lina, suspected of smuggling oil from Iraq.

U.S. Navy P-3 patrol aircraft have been flying reconnaissance missions in the southern Philippine Islands in support of the ongoing Filipino antiterrorist campaign. U.S. special operations forces are providing training support to the Filipino armed forces.

The last of 53 Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 133 have returned to Guam from Kandahar, Afghanistan, where they had been deployed for a variety of missions, including runway repair and maintenance, and construction of a detention facility.

Reserve support to the sea services continues at a high level. As of 6 March 2002, the total number of Reservists activated included 10,957 Navy, 4,409 Marine Corps, and 1,819 Coast Guard personnel.

Sea Service Notes

The Navy has decided to decommission its 19 remaining Spruance-class destroyers by fiscal year 2006. The USS David R. Ray was decommissioned in February in Everett, Wash. The Navy also is planning to decommission its five remaining "Flight I" (non-SH-60 capable) Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided-missile frigates by FY 2004.

Navy Electronic Attack Squadron 143 (VAQ143) is scheduled to be established on 1 August 2002 as the fifth EA-6B Prowler squadron dedicated to expeditionary support to the Air Force. However, the activation of the squadron is threatened by the lack of available EA-6B aircraft, which have been heavily engaged in Operations Enduring Freedom, Northern Watch, and Southern Watch.

Master Chief Petty Officer Terry D. Scott has been selected by Chief of Naval Operations Vern Clark to be the next Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON). Scott, currently assigned as command master chief for the commander, U.S. Fifth Fleet, and commander, Naval Forces Central Command, will succeed Master Chief Petty Officer James L. Herdt.

The WestPac Express, a high-speed vessel (HSV) owned and operated by Austral Ships Ltd., has been leased for $31 million by the Military Sealift Command (MSC) for three years to support the III Marine Expeditionary Force (III MEF) based in Okinawa. A hybrid (roll-on/roll-off passenger/cargo) catamaran ferry, the HSV completed a 238-day trial period in February 2002 during which the ship was put through exhaustive tests and transported more than 10,000 Marines and more than 15.4 million pounds of cargo--the equivalent of 217 C-17 airlift flights--from Okinawa to such destinations as Guam, Korea, and the main islands of Japan. Marine Corps officials said that the ship "has transported nearly every [type] of equipment in the Marine Corps inventory, excluding fixed-wing aircraft, CH-53E helicopters, and M1A1 tanks."

"The trial period was an overwhelming success," said Lt. Gen. Wallace C. Gregson Jr., commanding general of III MEF. "We are very pleased to continue working with the HSV and plan to take full advantage of the vessel's capabilities in the coming years."

The 331-foot WestPac Express, berthed at the port of Naha, can transport almost 970 Marines and 300 tons of equipment (32,000 square feet of cargo)--an entire reinforced battalion--in a single load. (For comparison, movement of such a force from Okinawa by air "would take 14 to 17 airlift aircraft over a 14- to 17-day period," Marine Corps officials said. Use of the 33-knot HSV by III MEF has resulted in a sizable reduction of flights into and out of Okinawa, with a concomitant reduction in noise levels. Convoy road traffic on congested Okinawa also has been reduced through use of the HSV.

"The use of a high-speed vessel revolutionizes the way our customer, III MEF, can do business," said Chris Thayer, director of MSC's strategic and corporate planning. "The Marines will save money, increase the battalion's operational readiness, and improve their quality of life by minimizing their total ... [time] away from base."