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USS McCain In Yokosuka to Resupply for Operation Tomodachi

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS110407-01
4/7/2011

By Joe Schmitt, Commander Fleet Activities Yokosuka Public Affairs

YOKOSUKA, Japan (NNS) -- USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) returned to Commander Fleet Activities Yokosuka (CFAY) March 29, to resupply before heading back out to participate in relief efforts near Sendai, Japan.

"We were underway for a certification period and as we were pulling back in [March 11] when the earthquake struck, we could just barely feel the earthquake when it happened and we were told to go [back out] to waters just outside Tokyo that night," said Ensign James Stokes, the ship's information security officer and public affairs officer. "The next day we were off the coast of Sendai in support of Operation Tomodachi."

When the ship arrived to the area off the coast, the crew started search and rescue operations. They were looking for survivors that might need help and assisting if they found any casualties.

"We were coordinating with the Japan Self-Defense Force and they were providing us with search grids that every ship was assigned to a specific longitude-latitude type grid," said Stokes. "Originally, we were just finding a lot of small craft. We marked them and catalogued them to help out the Japan Coast Guard and the Japan Self-Defense Force."

Once the McCain crew found a ship that needed to be searched, they would launch a rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB). A RHIB is a small boat that can carry a small crew that boards or searches the other ships they find.

"We saw a lot of devastation just in the water," said Lt. j.g. Jon Volkle, McCain fire control officer. "The first day we got there we found one derelict fishing boat and they called me to the pilot house right away because I speak Japanese. We launched the RHIB and we found that there was no one there. It had just been ripped free from its mooring lines. While we were out there, they discovered another one, we went over to that one, then discovered another one, and went on to that one. So, that first day we spend eight hours just doing boat [operations]."

After assisting in search and rescue operations, the crew performed other missions in support of Operation Tomodachi. Then they traveled back to Yokosuka base to pick up supplies they needed to continue their efforts in the area.

"It's always good to do something real and operational, that's what we're here for, I just wish we could have done more," said Volkle.

McCain was one of the first ships to return to CFAY and their schedule is the example for other similar ships in the region that will be pier side for only a few days before rejoining the humanitarian and disaster relief efforts in northern Japan.