Free Republic

NORFOLK — While the rescue Sunday of seven Russian submariners took place half a world away, experts working around the clock near Norfolk Naval Station coordinated the dramatic effort. As many as 48 people laboring in four shifts orchestrated the rescue from the small Norfolk office. On Monday, they celebrated the success of their first mission and its significance in future life-saving operations. “I think the world does not yet know how much of a springboard this is really going to make,” said William Orr, coordinator of the International Submarine Escape and Rescue Liaison Office.

Nimitz Carrier Strike Group Joins Others Deployed to 5th Fleet Story Number: NNS030407-10 Release Date: 4/7/2003 4:01:00 PM By Journalist Seaman Kristine DeHoux, USS Nimitz Public Affairs USS NIMITZ, At Sea (NNS) -- The USS Nimitz (CVN 68) Carrier Strike Group recently entered the 5th Fleet Area of Responsibility, making it the fourth carrier strike group in the region deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The San Diego-based aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) is accompanied by USS Chosin (CG 65), USS Princeton (CG 59), USS Benfold (DDG 65), USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62), USS Rodney M. Davis (FFG 60),...

06 Apr 2003 11:24:23 GMT U.S.-led forces seize Iraqi ship, track second DUBAI, April 6 (Reuters) - U.S.-led forces have captured an Iraqi naval vessel and are tracking a second to prevent them from laying mines in the Gulf, a U.S. navy spokesman said on Sunday. The seizure of the ship may help dispel fears that shipping operations in the Gulf, which provides 40 percent of world crude exports, could come under attack. "The first vessel, the al Shorook, was located in the northern Gulf two days ago and boarded by coalition forces," said Lt Garrett Kasper of the U.S....

Click on the carrier to e-mail our troops aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt

Business suffers as war empties huge U.S. base By Tim McGlone NORFOLK, Va., March 31 (Reuters) - At Nick's On The Boulevard, the first tavern just past Gate 2 of Norfolk Naval Station, about 25 people, mostly sailors, linger around the bar or shoot pool in the back. A sign out front states, "USA All The Way. Saddam Insane." On a typical night before the war with Iraq, the crowd would be much larger with two waitresses working the floor. One bartender and a cook can handle the crowd now. "It's been kind of slow, especially at night," said Melva...

THE US Marines have suffered an embarrassment with reports last night that one of their most prized investigators may have defected. Takoma, the Atlantic bottle-nosed dolphin, had been in Iraq for 48 hours when he went missing on his first operation to snoop out mines. His handler, Petty Officer Taylor Whitaker, had proudly showed off Takoma’s skills and told how the 22-year-old dolphin was among the most pampered creatures in the American military. Takoma and his fellow mine hunters have a special diet, regular medical checks and their own sleeping quarters, which is more than can be said for the...

ABOARD USS HARRY S. TRUMAN, EAST MEDITERANNEAN (BP)--It's Saturday morning and Keith Milo, an E4 from Bridgeport, Conn., and Elvin Rolon, an E3 from Orlando, Fla., nervously stand near their racks. Lt. Darren McFall, assistant supply officer for the aircraft carrier, is conducting an inspection of their berthing. It isn't going very well. "The deck looks good, but there's a lot of dust up here," says McFall, taking a finger and wiping it along the top rail of a rack, revealing a large amount of black dirt. The inspection of the "head," or restroom, doesn't go any better. "There's a...

US Navy's 'Flipper' goes AWOL Staff Sgt. Justin Roberts escorts K-Dog, a Bottle Nose Dolphin belonging to Commander Task Unit. In Bahrain, sea lions are being used to detect unauthorized swimmers near U.S. Navy ships. A sea lion moves through the water with a training device during a harbor-patrol exercise. Photo Credits: Courtesy U.S. Navy March 31, 2003 AUSTRALIAN military divers yesterday questioned the effectiveness of the US Navy's mine-clearing dolphins, revealing one had disappeared for two days. The polite way to express their scepticism about the mine-clearing skills of the dolphins is to question their reliability and cost-efficiency, but...

Vincent Laforet/The New York Times Lt. Dewaine Barnes, who became a pilot after learning about the Tuskegee Airmen, is aiming to lead a team in combat. ABOARD THE U.S.S. ABRAHAM LINCOLN, in the Persian Gulf, March 28 — After all the briefing, the training, the flying, the waiting, the war with Iraq has not unfolded as Lt. Dewaine Barnes had anticipated. The campaign started unexpectedly with the cruise missile strike aimed at killing Saddam Hussein. The dedicated air war, dominated by precision-guided bomb strikes, shifted within just days to a riskier scenario that focused on close air support for fast-advancing...

Heavy tanks aboard ships are rerouted after Turkey refused to accept forces WASHINGTON - The war in Iraq is providing Pentagon officials with a biting reminder that the nation's most powerful tank divisions can't run to a fight - they have to sail to it, at speeds no faster than about 22 knots. At a time when Army leaders near Baghdad say they want more tanks and artillery to protect their vulnerable supply lines, the nearest heavy armored division is still at least a week away, its soldiers flying in from Texas but its equipment still sailing around the Arabian...

THE PROPELLERS FELL OFF THE ONLY OTHER CARRIER THEY HAVE WHEN THEY LAUNCHED IT! This is NOT a parody or a spoof---this is TRUE. This French aircraft carrier broke its port propeller on its first long-distance trials. The French Navy announced that a blade on one of the aircraft carrier's two propellers broke off when the 40,000-ton vessel was making its way from Guadeloupe in the French West Indies to the US naval base at Norfolk, Virginia at 25kts. The break occurred in the vessel's port propeller, which weighs 19 tons and measures 5.8m in diameter. Divers were unable to...

Two U.S. Navy cruisers ordered home from Gulf ABOARD USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Gulf, March 28 (Reuters) - Two U.S. Navy cruisers that have been firing Tomahawk cruise missiles at Iraq over the past week received the order to return home on Friday after more than eight months at sea. The Mobile Bay and Shiloh, both part of the Abraham Lincoln battle group, are among some 30 ships that have been bombarding Iraq with missiles since the U.S.-led war started on March 20. The news was greeted with cheers on the Mobile Bay, whose normal six-month deployment was extended because of...

<p>A catapult crewman protects his ears as an F/A-18 Hornet is launched during flight operations aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt.</p> <p>ABOARD THE USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CNN) -- Warplanes aboard this aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea will move away from carefully crafted bombing missions in Iraq to fly less-structured support missions for ground troops, according to sources on the Roosevelt.</p>

PARIS (AFP) - The US military's use of trained dolphins to help demine southern Iraqi waters ran into crossfire on Tuesday from animal-rights groups and biologists, who branded the scheme both unethical and unreliable. "We are strongly opposed to keeping these mammals in captivity, and we're not happy with this exploitation," Cathy Williamson of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, a British-based agency, told AFP. "The animals could get hurt, and that's not justified," Williamson said. Stephanie Boyles, a wildlife biologist at the US campaign group PETA (People for the Ethical Treaty of Animals), slammed the US military for...

(CNSNews.com) - Animal rights activists are blasting the U.S. Navy for its use of mine-detecting dolphins in the war with Iraq because, according to the activists, the marine mammals "have not volunteered" to be part of the war. Stephanie Boyles, a wildlife biologist with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), said the use of dolphins to sweep for mines in Iraq is "just ridiculous." "These are animals that, number one, have not volunteered to take part in this whatsoever. Number two, they are being put in harm's way...when they don't even know they are in harm's way," Boyles...

In this handout photo from the U.S. Navy (news - web sites), Sergeant Andrew Garrett watches K-Dog, a bottle nose dolphin attached to Commander Task Unit 55.4.3 leaps out of the water while training near the USS Gunston Hall in the Persian Gulf on March 18, 2003. Commander Task Unit 55.4.3 is a multinational team from the United States, Great Britain and Australia conducting deep/shallow water mine clearing operations to clear shipping lanes for humanitarian relief and are currently conducting missions in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. (AP Photo/ U.S. Navy, Brien Aho, HO) CAMP AS SALIYAH, Qatar -...

War's underwater heroes 26mar03 Underwater heroes: Dolphins – trained to seek out mines – are working in the southern Iraq port city of Umm Qasr to protect coalition ships. THEY are the underwater heroes of the modern war. Dolphins – trained to seek out mines – are working in the southern Iraq port city of Umm Qasr to protect coalition ships. Heading home: Sgt Justin Roberts escorts K-Dog, a bottle-nose dolphin belonging to Commander Task Unit, back to the well deck and holding areas aboard the USS Gunston Hall operating in the Gulf. Dolphins use their biological sonar to search...

This is K-Dog, the coalition forces' most surprising weapon against Iraq. With a camera strapped to his fin, the bottle-nose dolphin is one of about 100 dolphins and sea lions helping to clear shipping lanes in the Gulf to ensure a safe passage for vessels, including those which will provide humanitarian relief. K-Dog and his handler Sgt Andrew Garrett are part of a multinational team, CTU-55.4.3, consisting of Naval Special Clearance Team One, Britain's Fleet Diving Unit Three, Australia's Clearance Dive Team, and two Explosive Ordnance Disposal units. A Pentagon spokesman said: "The team works in both deep and shallow...

U.S. enlists dolphins to aid war effort in Iraq UMM QASR, Iraq, March 25 (Reuters) - Forget precision bombs, unmanned spy-planes and high-tech weaponry, the U.S. army is about to unveil its most unlikely mine detector -- all the way from Florida, the Atlantic Bottle-Nosed Dolphin. At the southern Iraqi port of Umm Qasr, secured by U.S and British forces after days of fighting, soldiers made last-minute preparations on Tuesday for the imminent arrival of a team of specially trained dolphins to help divers ensure the coastline is free of danger before humanitarian aid shipments can dock. U.S. Navy Captain...

Just confirmed at the press conference, truly a 21st Century War..