Additional Ships Headed to U.S. Gulf Coast

Navy NewsStand ^ | Sep 1, 2005 | Commander, U.S. 2nd Fleet Public Affairs

[SandRat]

NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) and dock landing ship USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41) are making preparations to get underway Sept. 1 for areas off the U.S. Gulf Coast in support of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) relief operations associated with Hurricane Katrina.

Truman will serve as the command center and afloat staging base, and will carry additional helicopters from Naval Air Station Jacksonville to support search and rescue (SAR) efforts. Whidbey Island will bring with it the capability to employ a movable causeway to the region.

The Navy's involvement in the humanitarian assistance operations is a collaborative effort. The Navy is working to meet local and state requirements forwarded to the U.S. Northern Command through the Department of Defense from state governors and FEMA federal coordinators.

Truman and Whidbey Island will join five other Norfolk-based ships that are already at sea and will remain on station for as long as necessary to provide important humanitarian assistance to the U.S. Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Katrina.

Additionally, USNS Arctic (T-AOE 8), based at Naval Station Earl, N.J., is en-route and arrived in the Gulf Coast operating area Aug. 31.

For more Navy information related to Hurricane Katrina, visit www.news.navy.mil/local/hurricane.

[SandRat]

ping!

[the invisib1e hand]

a carrier? puhleeze. Isn't that just a wee bit of overkill?

[SandRat]

Nope!

The beds, chow, fresh water, chopper airlift, medical, and just plain manpower to be boots on the ground, plus the communications assets are going to be a God Send.

[AzSteven]

a carrier? puhleeze. Isn't that just a wee bit of overkill?

Bringing in a carrier brings to NOLA and the MS shore is a huge power supply, one of the largest mobile water purification/desalinization plants available, and a safe and stable platform for resuce helos and their crews to operate from and rest at without worries about security and health.

[aBootes]

A carrier is like a small slice of Kansas. Four hospitals, several hundred thousand gallons of fresh water, state of the art commo, lots of crew who can help once things are a little more settled... Wonderful thing, an aircraft carrier.

[Mrs. Shawnlaw]

Make sure they park it with the guns pointed TOWARDS THE BEACH!!!
"You gotta ask yourself, loot(s)er, do ya feel lucky? Huh, do ya?"

[Bombard]

Anchors Away!!!!

[MD_Willington_1976]

Propulsion: 2 nuclear reactors

Possible said reactors can be used for external power?

If so they could use the power.

They should also try to round up as many locomotives as possible, when they are not moving they can be used for generation.

SH-60 Seahawks, not sure how many onboard, but they are needed for resues now..


And most importantly: There are about 140,000 rolls of toilet paper on board...

[SoCalPol]

a carrier? puhleeze. Isn't that just a wee bit of overkill?



They have a major hospital and you can house a thousand
people.

[SandRat]

Most definately as well as the water purification systems and the hospital spaces as well as cots in the hanger decks.

[american_ranger]

Once the Navy sent a nuke sub to Lanai to replace their electric plant which was down due to a storm. I am sure that there might have been some transformer issues.

[the invisib1e hand]

thanks for setting me straight, educating me, making me glad once again for the wisdom of at least some of the people in charge, and for the good sense of at least some of the FReepers, and all without making me dust off my asbestos suit.

[SandRat]

No problem. I figure we all have to learn and the best way is to ask questions.

I save for the Trolls that stop by from DU from time to time.

My kitty just loves roast DU troll for dinner. With Freepers she just wants her furr rubbed and rubbed and rubbed until she gets tired.

Have you seen kitty?
Here's her picture

Just having more fun.

[tanknetter]

Possible said reactors can be used for external power?

Possible, but not all that significant. The current generation of nuclear carriers use their reactors to generate steam for turbines that power the propellers through reduction gearing (and also steam for the four aircraft catapults). There are definitely electrical generators that operate off the reactors, but they are just as powerful as necessary to power the ships electrical systems, with some built-in redundancy.

Future generations of carriers are supposed to have much larger electrical plants, both for the proposed electro-magnetic catapults and turbo-electric drive. Turbo-electric drive was tested out on some US battleships and carriers right after WWI ... but the concept didn't last. The first two "real" carriers, Lexington and Saratoga (CV-2 and -3, converted from incomplete battlecruiser hulls) were turbo electric. IIRC, one or both of them were used to power the city of Takoma for a Summer in the late 1920s when that city's powerplant failed. Allegedly the output from the ship(s) was so great that all the clocks in the city kept running fast.

[Nuc1]

In addition to what others are saying the command and control facilities a CVN can bring to bear are simply awesome. And from what I see C&C is what NO desperately needs. Add to that the Iwo and LPD-44 (I think) and the NO folks will think it is spring time in NO again.

[E.G.C.]

BTT!!!!!!

[the invisib1e hand]

not to be forgotten is the deterrent factor, apparently an added (and necessary) benefit.

[MD_Willington_1976]

Thanks for the reply guys.

Regarding locomotives, the company I work for provided protection equipment for locomotive based power generation after 911, IIRC.



Odd about the clocks, if they were synchronous type clocks then that would signal that the power frequency was being operated over 60hz.

MD