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Truman, Roosevelt homecoming dates announced
By JACK DORSEY AND MATT DOLAN, The Virginian-Pilot
© May 8, 2003
Last updated: 6:07 PM

The carrier Theodore Roosevelt will return sooner than previously estimated, on May 29.

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Led by the aircraft carriers Harry S. Truman and Theodore Roosevelt, one of the largest Navy homecomings in Hampton Roads history is officially set for later this month.

Navy officials announced today that two aircraft carriers, their air wings, some of their accompanying surface ships and an amphibious ready group will return to their Norfolk and Virginia Beach ports between May 22 and May 29.

In all, an estimated 15 ships and more than 16,000 sailors are expected home during that week.

The air wing of the Truman battle group will be the first back, returning on May 22. The 10 ships in the battle group follow on May 23.

The Roosevelt air wing returns on May 28, followed by the carrier and just one ship in its battle group -- the cruiser Cape St. George -- on May 29.

Also on May 29, a three-ship group led by the amphibious assault ship Nassau is expected to return.

``Awesome!'' said Sylvia Carbonell, capturing the feeling of many spouses relieved to hear that the Roosevelt and the Cape St. George finally have a return date.

``It's been flip-flopping so often I didn't know what to think,'' said Carbonell, 39, whose husband serves as a gas turbine engine electrician on the Cape St. George.

Not since the return of four carrier battle groups following the Persian Gulf war in 1991 have so many ships been scheduled to come home at one time. Even then, the homecomings were spread out over a month between March and April 1991. Between April 15-20 of that year, 13 amphibious ships, the carrier America and some of its escorts returned.

The war in Iraq drew about 30,000 personnel from Hampton Roads military units, including Army, Air Force and Coast Guard. The weeklong homecoming later this month will be the first large-scale return of troops. Several ships and groups of personnel have come back in recent weeks, but nothing approaching this scale.

The Truman battle group has about 8,100 sailors, Marines and pilots. The Roosevelt, its air wing and the Cape St. George crew total almost 6,300 personnel. The Nassau group has about 1,800 personnel.

The other seven ships in the Roosevelt group, with about 2,300 aboard, are being delayed in their return. They are expected home in July, completing about a six-month deployment, the Navy said. Their presence in the Mediterranean Sea is still needed for any unexpected contingency as a result of Operation Iraqi Freedom, officials said.

Additional information on the return date of these ships will be provided when their schedules are determined and approved, the Navy said.

The Mount Whitney is expected to return from a seven-month deployment June 13, Navy officials announced Saturday.

The Norfolk-based amphibious command ship rarely deploys overseas, but it left Nov. 12 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and the ongoing war on terrorism.

The Mount Whitney and its crew of about 560 has spent most of the deployment off the Horn of Africa, serving as the flagship for Joint Task Force operations in the region. The task force is made up of approximately 1,300 Marines -- 400 onboard Mount Whitney and another 900 at Camp Lemonier in Djibouti, a small east African country in the Horn of Africa region.

The Mount Whitney is commanded by Capt. David Prothero.