In the movie "Independence Day," the President played by Bill Pullman said, "We will not go quietly into the night; we will not die without a fight!" USS Independence (CV-62) definitely isn't going to take its upcoming decommissioning quietly. Yesterday, at 9:58 am, the 39-year-old Forrestal class aircraft carrier got underway for the Arabian Gulf along with USS John S. McCain (DDG 56), and USS Bunker Hill (CG 52) . USS Charlotte (SSN-766), which will join Indy's Battle Group, departed Yokosuka, Japan a few days prior.
Wednesday, Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen officially announced the orders to the crew and the media that the Yokosuka, Japan based aircraft carrier would deploy to the Arabian Gulf, relieving USS Nimitz (CVN-68).
Normally, decommissioning ships such as Indy, which is nine months away from retirement, will only do twilight cruises - short jaunts which would give the ship its required training and the crew some liberty in a couple of port visits.
When the ship received word of the potential for the deployment two weeks ago, Indy prepared by conducting a weeks worth of underway training for the crew and carrier qualifications for Carrier Air Wing FIVE pilots. A day after pulling back into Yokosuka, Cohen made his speech, leaving only three days to take care of everything the ship and its crew needed to get accomplished.
According to Lt. Andy Mueck, Readiness Officer, and a native of Woodbridge, Va., 600 pallets of material were brought aboard during the three-day inport period. Most of the supplies are "fast moving consumables used by everyone on the ship and the remainder of the material loaded was high priority parts needed to support the airwing's planes, ship's systems or to replenish our onboard stock," Mueck said.
"To ensure sustainability without re-supply," said Lt. Tom Dailey, Services Officer from Dracut, Mass., "we load aboard 30 days of frozen food, 60 days of dry provisions and 14 days of fresh vegetables. (The crew) loaded over 125 pallets in the past three days to meet these endurance levels."
In order to complete the ship's schedule of entering "The Gulf" in a timely manner, engineers must maintain an average of 500 miles per day.
"Prior to sea trials we completed steam plant testing in three days instead of ten days," said Cmdr. Craig W. Little, Chief Engineer, from Virginia Beach, Va.
The steam plant testing is a requirement prior to pulling out after maintenance availabilities to ensure the engineering plant is ready for steaming.
With a steaming plant in proper condition and supplies on board, the crew anxiously heads toward the Arabian Gulf to relieve Nimitz and defend our national interests.
Photo by PH2 John Yoder