Associated Press December 02, 2002
Battle group readies for deployment that could include war
By SONJA BARISIC Associated Press Writer
NORFOLK, Va. -- More than 8,000 sailors and Marines will leave East Coast ports Thursday with the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman battle group, knowing that they could end up fighting a war with Iraq.
The Truman and eight other surface ships are to depart Norfolk Naval Station to begin a regularly scheduled deployment, which typically includes stints in the Mediterranean Sea and Persian Gulf. A 10th ship is to leave from Earle Naval Weapons Station in New Jersey.
A Navy spokesman declined to say how involved the battle group would be should hostilities break out.
"They are an asset that is available," Cmdr. Ernest Duplessis of the Second Fleet said Monday. "They're trained and ready to handle any contingency they may be tasked with."
Defense analyst Patrick Garrett was much blunter.
"There's a 100 percent absolute guarantee if we end up dropping bombs on Iraq in an actual war, the Harry S. Truman is going to be involved," said Garrett, an associate with GlobalSecurity.org, a nonprofit military intelligence and space research organization based in Alexandria.
The Truman can reach the Gulf in about three weeks, depending on stops it makes along the way, Garrett said.
The Truman is to relieve the Norfolk-based aircraft carrier USS George Washington, which deployed June 20. A deployment usually lasts six months, meaning the ships of that battle group would be expected to return around Christmas. However, the Navy has not announced a return date for that battle group.
Duplessis said he did not want to speculate on whether world events would delay the Washington's homecoming. But Garrett said there have been no recent developments which would require the Washington, which is now in the Mediterranean, to return to the Gulf.
There are three other carriers that could be involved in the war with the Truman, Garrett said. They are the Everett, Wash.-based USS Abraham Lincoln, which is in the Persian Gulf in support of the war against terrorism; the USS Constellation, which left San Diego last month for the Gulf; and the Japan-based USS Kitty Hawk.
The biggest threat facing U.S. naval forces is mines laid by Iraq, Garrett said.
"Saddam (Hussein) has this nasty habit of cutting loose mines and letting them drift in the Persian Gulf," Garrett said. During the Persian Gulf conflict in 1991, two Navy ships were damaged by underwater mines.
Iraq's naval fleet, much of which was destroyed during the Persian Gulf war, does not pose much of a threat, Garrett said.
Rear Adm. John D. Stufflebeem, who was the Navy's spokesman during the war in Afghanistan, is commander of the Truman battle group. He will not be available to comment until the morning of the departure, Duplessis said.
The battle group is made up of the Truman, with Carrier Air Wing Three embarked; the guided missile cruiser USS San Jacinto; the guided missile destroyers USS Oscar Austin, USS Mitscher and USS Donald Cook; the destroyers USS Briscoe and USS Deyo; the guided missile frigate USS Hawes; the oiler USS Kanawha; and the ammunition ship USS Mount Baker.
All are to leave from Norfolk, except the Mount Baker, which will leave from Earle Naval Weapons Station.
Air Wing Three is made up of three aircraft squadrons based at Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach, two squadrons based at Norfolk Naval Station, two squadrons from Jacksonville, Fla. and one from Whidbey Island, Wash.
The Truman's Web site also lists the attack submarine USS Pittsburgh as being part of the battle group. But it was unclear whether that sub or any others would deploy as part of the group, or when. For security reasons, the Navy does not discuss submarine operations.
Copyright 2002 Associated Press
