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USNS Bob Hope in Kuwait Port Near Namesake's 100th Birthday

Navy Newsstand

Story Number: NNS030514-10 Release Date: 5/14/2003 4:47:00 PM

By Lt. John Garofolo, Naval Coastal Warfare Group 1 Public Affairs

KUWAIT (NNS) -- USNS Bob Hope (T-AKR 300), a 949-foot long, 63,000 ton ship capable of carrying enough equipment, vehicles and supplies for an entire U.S. Army task force, steamed out of a Kuwaiti port May 13 after off-loading cargo for troops serving in Iraq.

This was Hope's second trip to the Arabian Gulf. On her first visit, Hope was the 101st ship to arrive at the principal seaport in Kuwait under the protection of the men and women of San Diego-based Naval Coastal Warfare Group 1.

On that first trip to Kuwait, Hope brought in equipment and supplies for the 101st Airborne Division, which was on its way to conduct combat operations in Iraq.

Capt. Mike Shatynski, the Navy officer responsible for providing force protection for ships like Hope, remarked, "We were hoping that the Bob Hope would have been in Kuwait on his 100th birthday, but the convoy schedules weren't in our favor."

Actor/comedian Bob Hope, who turns 100 May 29, has entertained troops for decades, spanning the course of every major conflict since World War II. Operation Iraqi Freedom is perhaps the first time in 60 years that Mr. Hope has been unable to personally visit the troops overseas.

Shatynski noted, "I don't think it's much of a stretch to say that Mr. Hope directly supported Operation Iraqi Freedom with his namesake ship and the other ships of the Bob Hope class that came into Kuwait."

Bob Hope is the lead ship in a class of large, medium speed, roll-on/roll-off ships. The other six ships in the class are named after Medal of Honor recipients, and each brought significant amounts of equipment and supplies for the Army units who fought in Iraq.

Prior to the beginning of combat operations, more equipment and supplies moved through this Kuwait port than into the entire theater during Operation Desert Storm. With major combat operations having been declared over by President Bush, the force protection mission continues, as the equipment and supplies brought into theater slowly begins the return trip home.

Ships like Bob Hope are escorted into port and defended while pierside by Navy and Coast Guard Reservists who utilize a suite of sensors that provide radar, sonar, thermal and visual imaging capability, as well as operate small, fast heavily-armed boats to conduct patrols against hostile swimmers or divers and bomb-laden suicide boats.

Their main objective is to prevent attacks like the ones that damaged USS Cole (DDG 67) and the French Tanker M/V Linburg.

The Naval Coastal Warfare units providing anti-terrorism and force protection at this port in Kuwait, are Inshore Boat Unit (IBU) 15 from Corpus Christi, Texas; IBU 17 from San Diego; Mobile Inshore Undersea Warfare Unit 106, also from San Diego; Explosive Ordnance Mobile Unit, Detachment 20 from Little Creek, Va.; U.S. Coast Guard Port Security Unit 309 from Port Clinton, Ohio; and Harbor Defense Command Unit 114, based in Long Beach, Calif.