Tortuga Conducts Rescue Operations in New Orleans
Navy NewsStand
Story Number: NNS050906-03
Release Date: 9/6/2005 1:47:00 PM
By Journalist 3rd Class Brian P. Seymour, USS Tortuga Public Affairs
NEW ORLEANS, La. (NNS) -- Since Sept. 4, the amphibious dock landing ship USS Tortuga (LSD 46), based out of Little Creek, Va., has been conducting search and rescue (SAR) operations in support of Hurricane Katrina disaster relief efforts.
The ship is moored at Naval Support Activity (NSA) New Orleans, where operations are being coordinated with the U.S. Coast Guard to aid, evacuate and relocate disaster victims.
Using joint Department of Defense and local law enforcement assets, Tortuga is serving as the lead Navy ship in the city of New Orleans.
Dozens of crew members took part in SAR operations ashore, while the rest of the Tortuga team remained on board to assist with supplying food, water and shelter to more than 40 rescued hurricane victims and several animals. The rescued victims will remain on board until they can be safely transferred to an evacuation facility ashore.
The rescue team, comprised of a wide variety of ranks and rates including both junior and senior enlisted members and commissioned officers, was given a crash course on combat rubber raiding craft (CRRC) before beginning operations.
Before sunrise Sept. 5, 15 members of the rescue team deployed on seven CRRCs from the ship’s ballasted well deck to meet up with the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Spencer (WMEC 905), where boxes of meals, ready-to-eat and bottles of drinking water were loaded for victims in need of assistance.
The team then transited up the Mississippi River with a Coast Guard security boat to support joint disaster relief efforts inland.
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