LETTERS
Misguided Caption
It bothers me to see miscaptioned pictures in Sea Power. The ship described
in the April issue on page 68 as the Arleigh Burke-class Aegis guided-missile
cruiser USS Lake Erie is clearly a guided-missile cruiser (CG). The problem
is that ships of the Arleigh Burke-class are DDGs (guided-missile destroyers)--not
CGs. When people read a magazine such as Sea Power, they expect and should
receive accurate information.
Bob Shetron
Glendora, Calif.
Emphasis on "Existing"
I enjoyed the "Sustaining the Force" article in the May issue
about the proposed new T-AKE. I especially appreciated the point that
the ship is designed "to be compatible with existing AE/AFS homeport
infrastructure and facilities." I have to assume, therefore, that
other support ports were not taken into consideration. In particular,
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, does not now have the ship channel infrastructure
needed to support a 689-foot AE assigned to the weapons station.
Michael Toomey
Chief Pilot
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
More Credit to APL
I was glad to see the March 2001 article on AADC: The Essential Link.
However, I think the article failed to give enough credit to APL for
this excellent program. The fact that the prototype was developed by
APL (Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory) is mentioned only in passing.
Mr. Ed Lee and his Force AAW Coordination Technology (FACT) team deserve
to be named as the true innovators who developed this system, and to
be given proper credit.
This team has been responsible for many system improvements that have
greatly enhanced the AAW (anti-air warfare) picture in the fleet. They
developed the Shipboard Gridlock System (SGS), added an Auto Correlation
capability (SGS/AC), and developed an Auto ID system and Dual-Net Link-11,
just to name a few of those improvements.
Richard T. Heidecker Sr.
San Diego, Calif.
Much Appreciated
The air boss on the modified Iwo Jima-class mine countermeasures support
ship USS Inchon just e-mailed me the Navy League's press release on my
selection for the John Paul Jones Award. I have been walking around in
a complete daze ever since. I have transferred off the Inchon and am
currently the chief of staff for Commander Naval Forces Japan in Yokosuka.
You will hear "thanks" from me again, but I just wanted to
commend the Navy League for the great support Inchon received from your
Ingleside Area Council. Bull Walker, Vic Medina, and the other members
of the council are all fantastic and truly made an impact for our Sailors.
Daniel Hartwell
Captain, U.S. Navy
No More "Collective
Responsibility"
My comments below refer to your March 2001 article "An Asymmetric
Act of War" on page 18 and to the comments on page 13 related to
force protection.
After the Cole bombing in October 2000, the Navy's Judge Advocate General
and other senior officers agreed that the Navy must take force protection
to a new level. Numerous force-protection measures were adopted by the
Navy since, with funding reallocated from other high-priority operations.
Under a long-term plan, a Navy spokesperson said, the Navy intends
to rely on the Coast Guard to provide support to enhance its port-security
capabilities by using Naval Coastal Warfare Units--which are made up
of reservists who have a great deal of experience in waterside-security
operations.
My question is this: How could the Navy possibly expect the Coast Guard
to ride shotgun on the U.S. Navy worldwide--with the Coast Guard probably
paying for it out of its own budget? I hope this is not an effort to
pass the buck to the Coast Guard. My own belief is that, when the next
disaster takes place, no slap on the wrist of "collective responsibility" should
be acceptable at the time.
Bernard Flynn
New Rochelle, N.Y.
A Grinding Cadence
Your readers might be interested to know that the "boot camp" picture
on page 21 of February's Sea Power is of company 287--at Bainbridge,
Md., August 1953; our company commander was Machinist's Mate First Class
W.H. Ortlip. They could tell when we were marching on the grinder by
our cadence--"Ortlip--Ortlip--Ortlip a right a left!" Incidentally,
the chief shown in the photo is pointing right at me, and I don't even
have my hand up!
Red MacKenzie
Once an AG2
Research Assistance Requested
James Bradley, author of Flags of Our Fathers, seeks to interview Navy
pilots and air crewmen who served during WWII in the Pacific theater
with:
1. VB-1, USS Yorktown (or anyone who knew Lloyd Woellhof)
2. VT-82 and VMF-123, USS Bennington (or anyone who knew James Dye,
Grady York, and Warren Vaughn)
3. VT-12, USS Randolph (or anyone who knew Floyd Hall, Marve Mershon,
and Glenn Frazier)
4. Any aircraft carrier that flew strikes against Iwo Jima, the Bonin
Islands, or mainland Japan.
Please contact Mr. Bradley at:
1-800-786-4715
P.O. Box 367, Rye, NY 10580
JBradley@JamesBradley.com
