European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 15, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Flight deck crewmen prepare to launch a Navy f-14 tomcat on an armed patrol Kim Murphy los Angeles times up sub first there is the shriek of twin Jet turbines Jel _ winding up to full Power then the sudden smack of a catapult that hurls the Fa-18 Hornet into flight and sends a tremor through the Carrier Saratoga. One by one the planes lurch off the deck and into the dusk. A v v a. A a. The Saratoga originally bound for the Mediterranean was diverted aug. 4, two Days after the iraqi invasion of Kuwait to the red sea to join what will soon become the largest naval buildup since the korean War. There the Saratoga a a relic of the 1950s and the u a. Navy a second oldest aircraft Carrier a has been one of the ships responsible Lor turning away virtually All commercial cargo bound for Iraq through the Gulf of Aqaba. A a a a a a i a and As a Jan 15 United nations deadline nears for iraqi troops to pull out of Kuwait the naval task Force known As Quot Battle group red sea Quot is also quietly targeting charting briefing and training to become a rolling floating platform for a deadly Aerial assault against the forces of Saddam Hussein. A a a. Quot a a a. Say8 it. Cmdr Mark Fox Quot the role of aircraft carriers is really to persuade those who done to want to do business with us to do business with us a our Way. The Beauty of naval forces is you can be Blunt when you need to be. Quot i m not wishing for War Quot he adds gathering his gear to launch another Aerial patrol Over Northwestern saudi. Arabia. Quot the military Man is probably the one who wants peace the most because he a the one who s going to pay the Price the soonest. However if there is a War i m the pest Guy to fight it. If the House Burns. I m the one to put out the a. Quot. A. The Saratoga is a floating City of 4,600 people with eight decks in the Bridge jutting above the flight deck and eight decks below. It gulps 150,000 Gallons of Jet fuel a Day another 120,000 Gallons of diesel fuel serves 20,000 meals a Day desalinated 300,000 Gallons of water for drinking and washing pumps 200,000 Gallons of sewage. Running the Saratoga someone calculated costs $434 a minute. a Quot. Two Days before setting out for the Mediterranean on the carriers first. Cruise in 18 months the orders came in for the red sea once the ship was under Way the Captai radioed the engine room to Crank up Speed to 25 knots. The Guys in engineering looked at the same turbines. Turning the since 1956, crossed their fingers and the boilers a trip that was supposed to take 10 Days took 5\ j. A except for eight Days in port in Turkey the Crew of the Saratoga has been at sea Ever since a four months or almost twice As Long As a Normal deployment Carrier s pilots have also flown More than twice the Normal number. Of sorties a 7,500 of them. The flight deck is so Slick with Jet fuel it s Slippery even in Tennis shoes. There has been Little time to shut it Down and scrub it. There s an Alert on this night ordered by command. Headquarters in Riyadh for fear of a preemptive strike from Iraq. Men Are at combat stations the. Fighter jets rocket off. The deck All night Long turning the warm autumn darkness into a cacophony of screeching engines and hissing. Steam. A v a.,. Quoit. Mitch Dudney an officer in the aviation maintenance division with an Alabama drawl is engaged in two of his a major pastimes of this Long voyage missing his wife and. Thinking about what his career might have been had he a been just a Little younger than his 42 years. / a lot of new Navy officers Are going into the space. A program he notes. Quot that a my biggest regret about the Navy too Fate to join the space program i think you re going to see stuff like the Sta ship Enterprise planetary the Saratoga has been one of the ships responsible for turning away virtually All commercial cargo bound for Iraq through the Gulf of Aqaba. Aircraft carriers like the Saratoga Quot persuade those who done to want to do business with us to do business with us a our Way. Travel space stations and i think you of see that in our a lifetime a a. It. Cmdr. Tony Barnes assistant strike officer for the a ship says letters from kids at Home make him feel better. A thank you for protecting us. I Hope you Don t die. I think. You Are Brave Quot says one. A Quot i think we re hoping this thing settles peacefully, it cmdr Randy Smith who works in the carriers Contro. Tower Quot but we re kind of getting Antsy a we should either do something or else when it gets time for us to go Home we go Home. Its the old play rhe or Trade me Type of. . A. A. A. A. In the Saratoga s combat direction Center the dimly lit nerve Center of the ship the Saratoga s tactical action officer sits in an elevated chair surrounded by High Tec computer radar gadgetry. The chair looks suspiciously like capt. Kirk s aboard Star trek s Enterprise a a a it is on his command a on orders filtered Down from the Captain the Admiral or even higher that the Saratoga a. Sea Sparrow Short Range surface to air missiles or any of the other formidable weapons available within the escort group would be used. A a a. A a though the Saratoga is one of the oldest ships in the feet its combat direction Center is the most modern in the b s Navy Able to gather on a huge video screen a. Network of data generated from throughout the Region. Pm the ships radar from the Saratoga a mini Azacs planes the e-2g Hawk eyes and from pilots radio reports _ the result is a Blue lit image of the red sea and Western saudi Arabia pocked with blips representing every ship sailing the red sea and every aircraft in the air above it. Ships bound that might have to be boarded by Intel diction ships in the Battle group Are flagged. Aircraft on a questionable courses Are watched closely for possible interception by fighters from the Saratoga. A Quot what Are we out there anything. And Quot a. A everything Quot said cmdr. Rick Eason the Carrier s operations officer. Quot a. A in the Wake of the Resolution authorizing the use of Force against Iraq after Jan 15, the Saratoga s watch is particularly vigilant Over the Ridge of mountains extending. South from Jordan into Western saudi Arabia an iraqi. A Mirage Jet might try to Fly in behind that Ridge Betow radar a Range to lob an exocet missile at the aircraft Carder. The Saratoga has at its disposal a. Dizzying array of Page 14 a a a the stars and stripes eke bomb weaponry to counter such attempts by jamming enemy radar a most of which its officers refuse to a discuss a Quot ,. Quot basically we can find it we can know what it is Pecan locate we can Jam it Quot says it. Cmdr. Mike Higgins a vhf is heading this evenings watch a. The iraqis have been constantly moving their truck and Raiteri based missile launchers and the Crew of i he Saratoga has been Busy tracking them m an attempt to a detect patterns. In a War situation the liar is Only recourse a should the location of their launches be pinpointed w Ould be to turn off the radar guidance system s or face a dead Tiit against the missile launcher says Higgins a. A a eight decks below the Saratoga s hangar deck a of a football Field contains Evcic conceivable gauge Needle phone arid computer needed to a Nilor the four and boilers that Power tie Carrier s for huge propellers. A below that Are the boiler rooms themselves huge. A sweatshops in the bowels of the ship Whoso temperatures a a a approach 130 degrees. A a a. This is tie place that keeps the ship cutting through Thoy. Water that generates the electricity to Power it and creates. The steam needed to drive the catapults and cables that a a trap and launch the pianos. ,. ,. A. It is the worst duly aboard ship. Not Only is it hot it is. Probably the most dangerous place to be in the event of an Accident or attack. The boilers themselves Are. A. Temperamental a boiler room Accident earlier in the a. A. Deployment aboard the Carrier iwo if a killed 10 sailors a a. A Quot basically if you get hit in the main machinery room Ayou re Gonna die. If something happens to the ship we re. Going to be the last ones off of it Quot says Ensign Michael ,. Dewilt Quot this steam Down a re is heated to 950 degrees. 1,200 pounds of pressure it la Cook you like a chicken.-, Quot. Quot they re a different Breed Quot do Wilt says of Ilis boiler a room Crew. a a a. A / a it s almost like a rebel Type person. They Don t always have High enough scores to go work on the radar or something but they re very mechanically inclined. A main. A Quot engine went Down and they worked 36 hours straight to fix. I they saved the Navy. $250,000&Quot a. A a j a. Near dusk the next Day Vfa-81 one of the Fa-18 Hornet fighter squadrons is preparing for another atrial patrol in the Northern red sea. A a a. A a this is an aviator s Paradise a says of. Mark Fox. Quot the sky is always Blue the deck is always steady a there s free Gas overhead in an Aerial refuelling Tanker. If i have to be at sea i think this is the place to on the other hand the nearly four months of High. Jafea dines activity has begun to Tell on pilots a. A Quot it s kind of like being in the locker room before the a. Game. How Jong can you sit there before you go out and play?1�?T asked rear adm. George n. Geo commander of the Battle group a a a 1-. A a the Saratoga a commander capt. Joseph s. Mobley a a prisoner of War in five years after his plane a. Was. Shot Down of the pilots have begun coming to him not openly seeking help but Jusi wanting Quot to talk. A Quot i guess they just want reassurance that other people have had the same thoughts that they re having right now when they re really seriously contemplating the a. A. Possibility of combat Quot Mobley says -. A i think you can say it has affected everyone so performance and attitude. There s a Good Deal of keying up. But morale is remarkably High the men have been. At sea for four months now and they Don to want to go. They want to a a a Quot a Quot for me personally Quot said it Barry Hull a Pilot Quot there. Were these intense highs and lows when we first got Here. There was also the anxiety of the unknown. Now i think we re much More prepared for the situation 1 the jets scream in. Seaman 1st class Franklin Parker a Jet Mechanic is about to try to get some sleep a something that s riot always easy to do i wanted to get away from the House a Smalt town in Georgia. There s something else to see in a pretty sure you know a he says. A a \ a a. A a a a Quot and now f m Here in be seen All these places but you know there s some pretty wild stuff goes on in a a persons mind when he s out Here like a a he thinks for a moment. Quot but the bang you know Quot he says As another Jet slams Down into the deck. Quot every a time you hear it it Kinda rocks you to . Page 15 i i
