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Tiger Cruise
Angie and I had the grand pleasure of being invited by our son-in-law, Navy Command Craig Whittinghill, to join him on the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis for a Tiger Cruise from Hawaii to San Diego. A Tiger Cruise is where the Navy personnel can invite friends and family to sail with the ship as it returns to its home base from deployments. The Stennis and its accompanying Strike Force Group were redeploying from a tour in the Persian Gulf. The Stennis left its home port of Bremerton Washington in July 2011.
While deployed to the Persian Gulf the Strike Force Group made several trips through the Straits of Hormuz. They were threatened several times by Iran, they rescued two Iranian fishing vessels which had been taken hostage by Somalian pirates. They provided air cover for the withdrawal of the last troops from Iraq and provided air support missions for military operations in Afghanistan.
We flew from Huntsville to Honolulu where we spent five days touring Oahu. Primarily we visited historical sites to include the USS Arizona Memorial, the Battleship USS Missouri, the WWII submarine USS Bowfin, the military cemetery at the Punch Bowl. We also visited Diamond Head, drove up to the North Shore to see the big waves and to catch some surfing action. We also hiked over a mile up a muddy trail to view a waterfall (can't remember the name.)
We along with about 1100 other Tigers including Craig's parents, Bob and Brenda Whittinghill, spent seven days on the Stennis sailing back to San Diego. Most of the sailing was good on the big carrier, but two nights were rough. We were told about 75% of the people on the smaller Destroyers got sea sick. Fortunately, we did not.
Onboard we dined in the Officers' ward room and the food was really good. We were given access to most areas of the ship and were provided briefings on the operations of each of these areas. We did get to visit the Bridge where everyone took a tour of sitting the in the Captain's chair - guess he is such a nice guy because he is an Auburn grad. We toured the Brig where the Somalian pirates were keep. You should have heard the stories of that sorry bunch. We also found out that the Navy still gives three days of bread and water punishment for infractions against the regulations.
We were provided an air show and a display of the Destroyers maneuvering alongside the Stennis. We also saw a ship-to-ship resupply of aviation fuel.
A little bit about the USS John C. Stennis: It cost about $8 Billion, displaces 90,000 tons, has a complement of about 5000 sailors and officers. It has 7 ward/mess halls, a hospital with operating room, a dentist office, a complement of lawyers (guess those rascals are everywhere?) It has two anchors which weigh 57,000 lbs. each. The ship is about 1090 feet long and 200 feet abeam at its widest point. The flight deck covers 4 1/2 acres. The ship carries approximate 70 jets (F-18's Hornets and E-6B Prowlers and planes (E2 Hawkeyes and 2 G2 Greyhounds) and about 20 H-60 helicopters. There are ladders everywhere and you get a lot of exercise moving around the deck.
Bottom line: your Navy personnel are doing a good job. Our nation can be proud of them.
We spent 3 days in San Diego before returning home. While in San Diego, we spent most of one day with Seaman Max Morrison from Elkmont. We visited the Juan Cabrillo Memorial Park on Point Loma and Balboa Park in San Diego.
Our eternal thanks go to our good friend Lauren Shedd and her four children for loaning us Steve's car while Steve is deployed to the Persian Gulf for 9 months. Talk about a hard job - it's not the sailors - it is the Navy wives who manage the home front while the husbands are deployed. Same for any military family who has family deployed. We need to remember them in our prayers.
Click the link at head of this email to view a small sampling of our photos taken on this trip.
Gary
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Hang in there, or is it "hang 10"
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