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Stennis Enjoys Extended Stay in Paradise

Navy Newsstand

Story Number: NNS040714-17
Release Date: 7/14/2004 5:30:00 PM

By Journalist 2nd Class Gabriel Owens, USS John C. Stennis Public Affairs

ABOARD USS JOHN C. STENNIS (NNS) -- While on deployment to the Western Pacific and in support of Summer Pulse 2004, the crew, embarked staff, and air wing of USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) stopped for an extended visit in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in July.

Pearl Harbor is located on the island of Oahu in the Hawaiian chain. The island also includes famous resort towns like Waikiki and Honolulu. Stennis spent eight days in port.

Many Stennis Sailors were excited by the long port visit.

"This was a really great chance to see a state that most Americans don't get a chance to," said Photographer's Mate Airman Ryan Restvedt from Stennis' photo lab.

"I went snorkeling, spent a lot of time at the beach, and generally walked around taking in the island," said Restvedt.

Shopping for gifts was a big part of many Sailors' agenda. "I got a tribal mask for my girlfriend," said Restvedt. "It's something she can hang on her wall."

There were so many activities to partake in on the island that many crew members didn't have time to do it all, even in eight days.

"I can't wait to go back," said Ship's Serviceman 2nd Class Wayne Roper of supply's S3 Division. "I barely got to see half of what I wanted to."

Besides the normal activities someone might associate with Hawaii, such as snorkeling, surfing and lying on the beach, there was also a very important Navy-related one that many shipmates took the time to see.

"I took a tour of the Arizona Memorial," said Roper. "It was a very moving experience."

The memorial sits over the spot where USS Arizona (BB 39) sank during the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941.

The battleship went down with 1,177 shipmates, and there they remain entombed to this day.

"It's an important event in naval and American history," said Roper. "The tour was excellent, and I think everyone on the ship should see it next time we pull in to Hawaii (if they didn't see it already)."

The crew of Stennis is expected to return to Pearl Harbor in a few weeks following exercises off the Hawaiian coast.

Stennis is homeported in San Diego and is presently deployed to the Western Pacific in support of the war against terrorism, and is participating in RIMPAC and Summer Pulse '04.

RIMPAC is a biannual exercise in the Pacific. This year's exercise is the 19th in a series since 1971.

Seven nations, forty ships, seven submarines, 90 aircraft and more than 18,000 Sailors, Airmen, Marines, Soldiers and Coastguardsmen are participating.

Summer Pulse '04 is the simultaneous deployment of seven aircraft carrier strike groups, demonstrating the ability of the Navy to provide credible combat power across the globe, in five theaters, with other U.S., allied, and coalition military forces. Summer Pulse is the Navy's first deployment under its new Fleet Response Plan (FRP).