'USS Abraham Lincoln' enjoys Aceh humanitarian mission
'USS Abraham Lincoln' enjoys Aceh humanitarian mission
A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, On board the 'USS Abraham Lincoln'
off Banda Aceh Coast
The ship's alarm sounded at 5:40 a.m., prompting Lt. Eric
Danielsen, a helicopter pilot, to quickly rise from his bed in
his small cabin in the aircraft carrier, USS Abraham Lincoln.
He took a shower and rushed to the morning briefing, which was
attended by other crew members and pilots of helicopters deployed
for humanitarian purposes to Aceh.
After the briefing, Danielsen and his colleagues had breakfast
in the ship's public dining room. At about 8.30 a.m, the young
lieutenant and about 10 other pilots left for Banda Aceh, flying
Seahawk choppers.
Upon their arrival at the Iskandar Muda Air Force Base in
Banda Aceh, they were briefed by Indonesian Military officers as
to where they should drop food and medicine supplies and pick up
injured survivors of the Dec. 26 massive quake and ensuing
tsunamis.
Each chopper makes three to four short trips a day, as far as
the worst-hit Meulaboh area, West Aceh, which takes an hour from
the air base. They return to the USS Abraham Lincoln in the
evening.
Danielsen and other crew members and pilots have kept up this
busy routine since Saturday, the first day the ship commenced its
Aceh mission. "We work from early in the morning until the sun
sets," Danielsen said on Monday night.
The work is exhausting, but he said he was glad to join the
mission.
"Aceh has been devastated and the Acehnese people deserve
help," he said.
The Abraham Lincoln -- named after the U.S.'s 16th president
-- is part of the U.S. Asia Pacific Command deployed to Aceh for
the humanitarian mission. Besides the aircraft carrier, three
other U.S. ships are stationed off the Aceh coast to provide
support for domestic and international relief operations in the
wake of the tsunami catastrophe, which killed over 94,000 people
in this country, mostly in Aceh.
The USS Abraham Lincoln, the U.S.'s fifth Nimitz-class
aircraft carrier, contributes about 9 to 11 helicopters a day.
"Basically, the main duties of the U.S. choppers are to
conduct surveys of locate tsunami survivors and refugees, drop
food and medicine supplies, and, after off-loading the goods,
take sick people from devastated areas to medical facilities in
Banda Aceh for treatment," said Capt. Kendall L. Card, the ship's
commanding officer.
"The Indonesian government has control over our operations. We
receive the plan and execute the day-to-day functions," he
explained.
According to Kendall, the aircraft carrier will stay off the
coast of Aceh "until our services are no longer needed."
The presence of the helicopters means that food and medicinal
aid can be dropped everywhere, particularly in remote areas where
land transportation has been impossible after roads and bridges
were destroyed by the tsunami.
This is not the first humanitarian mission for the
nuclear-powered mother ship. In October 1983, the Abraham Lincoln
was ordered to the coast of Somalia to assist U.N. humanitarian
operations. The carrier spent four weeks flying patrols over the
city of Mogadishu and surrounding areas, backing American ground
troops during Operation Restore Hope.
Earlier, the ship supported evacuation operations following
the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991. In the
operation named Fiery Vigil, the mother ship led a 23-ship armada
that sea-lifted 20,000 evacuees. The armada relocated
approximately 45,000 people from Subic Bay Naval Station, making
it the largest peacetime evacuation of active duty military
personnel and family members in history.
Other crew members of the USS Abraham Lincoln said, while
they had participated in other such missions, they had been
stunned by the destruction in Aceh.
"In my 17 years in service, I never saw devastation of this
magnitude," said Sr. Chief. Jesse Cash, who joined the
humanitarian mission against famine in Liberia back in 1990.
"This was an act of God. We are here and happy to help," said
helicopter ground crew member Kevin Ferguson.
Table
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Brief data about the ship
General Characteristics
Builder: Newport News Shipbuilding Co, Va.
Commissioned: Nov. 11, 1989
Power Plant: Two nuclear reactors, four shafts
Length, overall: 332.85 meters
Flight Deck Width: 76.8 meters
Beam: 40.84 meters
Displacement: Approx. 97,000 tons full load
Speed: 30+ knots
Aircraft: 85
Cost: about $4.5 billion
Crew: Ship's Company: 3,200
Air Wing: 2,480
Service Life: 50 years
Interesting Figures
Dirty laundry washed each day: 5,550 pounds (about 2,523 kg)
Loaves of bread baked each day: 800
Milk consumed each day: 660 gallons
Number of eggs consumed each day: 180 dozen
Fresh vegetables consumed each day: 800 pounds (about 364 kg)
Some soldiers say it takes at least two or three months in order
to never get lost again inside the huge ship
Accidents
An F-18 Hornet jet fighter crashed into the sea in the Persian
Gulf on August 24, 1999 after it catapulted off the deck. The
pilot was ejected and rescued afterward.
Lt. Kera S. Hultgreen, the first woman to fully qualify as an
F-14 Tomcat jet fighter pilot, was killed in a training accident
while attempting to land on board of the USS Abraham Lincoln on
Oct. 25, 1994 in the Pacific Ocean.
Source: Release by Abraham Lincoln Public Affairs Office and
www.navysite.de/cvn/cvn72.html