Cape weather too much for USS Theodore

The USS Roosevelt recently came to visit Cape Town - it appears a mild swell did a bit of damage to this mighty carrier. Imagine what a real war will do!

It might have seemed a breezy spring day in Cape Town but the Cape of Storms was too much for the mighty American aircraft carrier the USS Theodore Roosevelt. Around 4 600 sailors had to cool their heels on board in Table Bay on Saturday because the ship was unable to launch her liberty boats after the swell snapped one of the ship's accommodation ladders. The sailors desperately wanted to come ashore and traders in the V&A Waterfront were looking forward to the rush, but the sea had other plans as swells of up to 3m rolled into the bay.

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Where is the rest of the carrier group that the Roosevelt is supposed to belong to? Only one escort? That sounds a bit dodgy to me.

You're making a big deal about this because a LADDER was broken???? The ladder is an attachment to the hull, and has NOTHING to do with normal operations of the carrier. When they're at sea it just hangs there doing nothing.

As for the rest of the group did you read the entire article?

[The two ships, a core part of the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group, were invited to stop over by the South African government and navy.

From your source.

reply to post by Zaphod58


It was a tongue in cheek post my friend, I have great respect for the US nuke carriers, and feel huge disdain for the anti-nuke protestors that greeted her. My real question, which was not clear, is where is the core Carrier Group? Last I heard the Roosevelt was part of a Super Carrier group steaming off to parts unknown. I wanted to know if anyone knows where the rest of this group happens to be - on its way to the Persian Gulf perhaps?

The reports I read are very vague, hence my question:
Link to Unverified Source


[edit on 7-10-2008 by deltaalphanovember]

Hanging around outside the port. This happens all the time with smaller ports. They want the money from the carrier, but they can't fit the entire group in the port. So most of the group sails circles around outside the port for a day or two, until the carrier comes back out to sea, where they rejoin and sail off into the sunset.

reply to post by Zaphod58

On Monday, Egypt's Middle East Times said Kuwait had activated its Emergency War Plan after learning that a "massive US and European armada is reported heading for the region." The news report said the force "comprises a US Navy super carrier battle group and is accompanied by an expeditionary carrier battle group, a British Royal Navy carrier battle group and a French nuclear hunter-killer submarine," adding that it was being led by the nuclear-powered American aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which carries 80 combat jets, and which is accompanied by the Carrier Strike Group Two. The carrier also had French Naval Rafale fighter jets on board, the report added.

This report all stated that the DOD had denied the report, but if this is not true then why is the Roosevelt at the Cape of Good Hope? This was not a planned visit originally as the Roosevelt had to wait for a while before persmission was given for it to come into harbour.

Just because it was over there doesn't mean that it was heading to the ME. It could have been sailing in other areas for various reasons. There are any number of reasons why it would be there. It could be on the way home or going to Australia for several reasons.

It's definitely not its way home. It was in dock earlier this year, and then was undergoing sea tests of its nuclear reactor about a month ago (this was on their own website). They are definitely on the move.

There is some speculation that they are going to be based off Somalia to support the effort against the pirates. If this is the case, then I find it odd that a bunch of Somalian pirates will require so much firepower (including a rather expensive-to-maintain floating city, which is the nuke powered Roosevelt) to be subdued.

They're called E-2 Hawkeyes. They fly off the carrier and can be used to track ships or planes in the area. This way they can keep track of even small boats without having to have ships all over the place to watch them visually.

Yes, that makes sense, I did not consider that. Well, I do hope that they manage to end all this high sea piracy.

Thanks for the replies, and I will continue to watch the Roosevelt on her voyage. If she does end up in the Persian Gulf, you owe me a beer.

maine is owned by the eastern Eskimoe , we are in a mild ice age the eastern carrier supercarrier canadian build is in nove Scotia fer the winter for retrofit . evrit is in washington and the Huron is on lake Huron in Southern ontario canada . We canadians own the Huron and Evrit and maine but the amerikan eskimoes and sailors sail in our 3 supercarrier grooups . Evrit is probably living in Chllowack , they have dual citzenship beeing canadian indians .

We are putting together a small 2 carrier old evrit fleet with 12 boats in total and 10 supoort of 2 carriers . 1 caccier with 5 support in Port Cobourne canada with the Tonnawanda in 2 avro helicopter squads and 1 carrier with 5 support in Port delusi Ontario with the mowhawk in a old avro plane that flys 10 000 mph and has 2 bombs and two anti aircraft missels to support the carrier . It is an old build it looks like a tiger plane . The welland canal is now clsed to amerikan traffic they yanks use Buffalo on lake erie we us port Colbourne ontario respetively .

Well turns out I was right - the Roosevelt is now in the Persian Gulf area:

The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt launched its first sorties this weekend in support of combat missions in Afghanistan

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Just routine, of course, but this point to pieces of a jigsaw puzzle falling into place - one I have been trying to piece together for several months now.
--watch this space--