| By
RICHARD R. BURGESS
The
following report summarizes some but by no means all of the major missions
carried out by U.S. Navy and Marine Corps units prior to the start of
cease-fire negotiations in early June.
Navy and Marine
Corps forces have continued to be key participants in Operation Allied
Force, NATO's aerial bombardment campaign against the Yugoslavian
government and its military forces. The sea services also have been
instrumental in providing humanitarian relief--as part of Operation
Shining Hope--to tens of thousands of ethnic Albanians who have fled their
strife-torn home province of Kosovo.
In his
commencement address at the Naval Academy in late May, Secretary of
Defense William S. Cohen praised the 16,000 Sailors and Marines deployed
in support of Allied Force. "With little rest and great skill, our
men and women in uniform are working without pause and without
complaint," Cohen said. "And from their able hands we have sent
wave after wave of aircraft and munitions into dangerous skies."
The Navy has
continued to maintain a carrier battle group (CVBG) in the Adriatic,
centered around the Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Theodore
Roosevelt, with Carrier Air Wing Eight (CVW-8, with assigned squadrons
VF-14, VF-41, VFA-15, VFA-87, VAQ-141, VAW-124, VS-24, HS-3, and a
detachment from VRC-40). CVW-8 has been flying strikes into Yugoslavia
with F/A-18C Hornet, F-14A Tomcat, and EA-6B Prowler aircraft, and have
used the AGM-154A JSOW (Joint Standoff Weapon) and the GBU-24 against
ground targets, and have fired AGM-88 HARMs (High-Speed Antiradiation
Missiles) against Serbian air-defense radars. The air wing's E-2C Hawkeye
radar early warning aircraft have been used mainly as airborne command
post aircraft in coordinating strikes over land. The wing's S-3B Vikings
have been busily employed in refueling the strike aircraft.
The USS Enterprise
CVBG, returning from a combat deployment in the Persian Gulf, was
considered for diversion to join the action over Yugoslavia, but was
instead allowed to return on time to its homeport in Norfolk, Va.
A number of Navy
surface ships and submarines fired Tomahawk land-attack missiles,
particularly early in the conflict, against high-value fixed targets in
Yugoslavia.
The NATO air
campaign has placed especially heavy demand on the inventory of Navy and
Marine Corps EA-6B Prowler electronic attack aircraft. Because Navy
electronic attack (VAQ) squadrons are responsible for providing electronic
warfare (EW) support for deployed Air Force expeditionary units, Prowlers
have been deployed to the theater in substantial numbers as elements of
VAQs 134, 138, 140, and 209 and of Marine Corps EA-6B squadrons VMAQs 1,
2, and 4. Navy/Marine Corps EA-6Bs have provided EW support for all of
the U.S. combat sorties over Yugoslavia, including those flown by Air
Force B-52, B-2, and F-117 stealth aircraft. In addition: (1) Cohen
mobilized the Navy's only reserve EA-6B squadron to augment the air
campaign; and (2) The temporary shift of the VMAQ-1 EA-6Bs from Turkey to
Italy had the effect of interrupting the previously scheduled U.S. aerial
patrols in support of Operation Northern Watch over northern Iraq.
P-3C Orion
maritime patrol air-craft deployed to Naval Air Station Sigonella, Sicily,
also have made history by carrying out what are believed to be the
aircraft's first land-attack missions, launching AGM-84E SLAMs (Standoff
Land-Attack Missiles) against targets far inland in Yugoslavia. EP-3E
electronic reconnaissance aircraft assigned to Fleet Air Reconnaissance
Squadron Two (VQ-2) have been heavily involved in signals-intelligence
collection and targeting missions in the dynamic and rapidly changing
battlefield.
In addition to
the preceding:
- Two Marine
Corps F/A-18D Hornet strike fighter squadrons--VMFA (AW)s 332 and
533--have been deployed to airfields in Hungary for missions over
Yugoslavia. These units are the first to deploy overseas with the new
Advanced Tactical Airborne Reconnaissance System (ATARS), which has
yet to go through OPEVAL (operational evaluation).
- F-14A Tomcat
fighters from the Theodore Roosevelt also have employed the
Raytheon-built Fast Tactical Imaging (FTI) system--which can send and
receive images in near-real-time--along with the veteran TARPS
(Tactical Air Reconnaissance Pod System) in missions over the Balkan
region.
- The mine
countermeasures support ship USS Inchon, scheduled for a
Mediterranean deployment before Allied Force began, has been retained
in the Adriatic area, where her two detachments of MH-53E Sea Dragon
minesweeping helicopters (from Helicopter Mine Countermeasures
Squadrons 14 and 15) and HH-46D Sea Knight helicopters have been
pressed into service in lifting relief supplies to Kosovars seeking
refuge in Albania.
- The USS Nassau
Amphibious Ready Group (ARG), with the 24th Marine Expeditionary
Unit (MEU) embarked, has returned home after turnover with the USS Kearsarge
ARG, with the 26th MEU embarked. The AV-8B Harrier II+ attack
aircraft assigned to the two ARGs have flown strikes over Kosovo,
marking the first combat action for the Harrier II+ version of the
aircraft. The CH-53E, CH-46E, UH-1N, and AH-1W helicopters assigned to
the embarked MEUs have operated in Albania to provide security and
carry relief supplies.
- RQ-2A Pioneer
reconnaissance UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) assigned to Marine UAV
Squadron Two (VMU-2) have been deployed in Bosnia, and a Fleet
Composite Squadron Six (VC-6) detachment with RQ-2As is embarked in a
ship assigned to the ARG.
- A platoon of
the Marine Corps' 1st Fleet Antiterrorist Security Team was deployed
to Skopje, Macedonia, to reinforce security of the U.S. embassy there
in the wake of violent anti-NATO demonstrations.
- Seabees
assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Three, deployed to
Naval Station Rota, Spain, have been repositioned to Albania--where,
according to the European Stars and Stripes, they will repair
damaged buildings, erect temporary new buildings, and provide
utilities.
Last MHC
Commissioned In Baton Rouge Ceremonies
The Navy's 12th
and last Osprey-class coastal minehunter (MHC) has been commissioned in
Baton Rouge, La., and assigned to the Mine Warfare Command in Ingleside,
Texas. The USS Shrike (MHC 62)--built in Savannah by Intermarine
USA--may be the last specialized mine warfare ship to be commissioned in
the U.S. Navy.
The Navy has
begun to develop mine countermeasures (MCM) systems that will be
"organic" to deploying battle groups, rather than installed in
specialized mine warfare ships. If successful, that initiative eventually
may help ease the MCM burden imposed on Shrike and her sister
ships.
Vice Adm. Henry
C. Giffin III, commander, Naval Surface Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, was
the keynote speaker at the commissioning ceremonies for the 188-foot MHC.
Rear Adm. Jose L. Betancourt Jr., commander of the Mine Warfare Command,
served as commissioning officer for the 31 May ceremonies. Janet Gehman,
the ship's sponsor (and wife of Adm. Harold W. Gehman Jr., commander in
chief, U.S. Atlantic Command, and NATO's supreme allied commander,
Atlantic) gave the order to "man our ship and bring her to
life."
The
860-metric-ton Osprey-class MHCs--the world's largest minehunters built
entirely of fiberglass--are designed to withstand the shock of severe
underwater explosions. The ship, which is armed with two .50-caliber
machine guns, is equipped with high-definition variable-depth sonar and a
remotely operated vehicle that can be used to neutralize undersea mines.
The new 12-knot
MHC is the second U.S. Navy ship to be named Shrike; the first (MSC
201) was a wooden-hulled coastal minesweeper that served in the active
fleet from 1955 until 1968, and as a Naval Reserve training ship until
1975.
Lt. Cdr. Henry D.
Derbes is the first commanding officer of the Shrike and her crew
of five officers and 46 enlisted personnel.
Sea
Service Notes
The Perry-class
guided-missile frigate USS Stark has been decommissioned at
Naval Station Mayport, Fla., after 17 years of service. The Stark survived
direct hits--which killed 37 crew members--from two Iraqi Exocet cruise
missiles in 1987 during the Iran-Iraq War while on duty with the Navy's
Middle-East Force. The frigate was returned to service after extensive
repairs.
Naval Air
Station Point Mugu and Naval Construction Battalion Center Port Hueneme,
both in California, are scheduled to be combined later this year
under a new command to be called Naval Base Ventura County. The two
stations are being administratively combined primarily to cut operating
costs, but each will retain its current name.
The
decommissioned Essex-class aircraft carrier Oriskany--a
veteran of combat action during the Korean and Vietnam Wars--has been towed
from Mare Island, Calif., to Port Arthur, Texas, for scrapping. The
Oriskany--decommissioned in 1976--was the last of the 24-ship Essex
class to serve as a front-line combat ship. |
