• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

VP-5 Crew Joins SAR Mission Off Coast of Malta

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS050216-06
Release Date: 2/16/2005 3:22:00 PM

By Journalist 1st Class Russell C. Tafuri, Armed Forces Network Sigonella

NAVAL AIR STATION SIGONELLA, Sicily (NNS) -- A Commander Task Force (CTF) 67 P-3 Orion crew from Patrol Squadron (VP) 5 assisted in a search and rescue mission of an exploded civilian cargo vessel off the coast of Malta Feb. 3.

When the civilian cargo vessel Vigla exploded, Rescue Command Center Malta put out the SOS call. Britian's HMS Nottingham (D 91) was in the area and initiated the search-and-rescue effort, joined by an Italian military helicopter. The 11-member crew of VP-5, homeported in Jacksonville, Fla., joined the effort looking for seven Dutch crew members of the Vigla, who were feared dead after the ship exploded 150 miles southeast of Malta, according to Capt. Robert Lally, commodore of CTF 67.

The Navy's P-3 Orion lent unique support due to its ability to stay on mission for up to 10 hours, as well as provide the electronic equipment aboard suited to this type of mission, including radar systems and infra-red sensors, according to VP-5 Tactical Coordinator Lt. Tom Pickering.

"We also had every available person onboard manning the windows as observers," said Pickering. "The whole time, we're treating this as if there are people in the water, waiting on us. We all stayed hopeful."

But with the water temperatures between 55 and 57 degrees Fahrenheit, the mission ultimately became a search-and-recovery one.

"If the people in the water were not in a life boat or without protective clothing, they could only last in the water up to two hours maximum," said Lally.

The P-3 crew assisted with the recovery of four of the seven sailors' bodies from Vigla.

"The take-away for me is genuine flexibility of the crews to respond so quickly to an emergent need like that," said Cmdr. Sean Cannon, VP-5 commanding officer. "It also validates the value of having a large-dwell platform like the P-3, because it is able to stay exactly where the action is longer than anything else."