NEWS: U.S. Navy Strike Groups Divert To Asia To Provide Assistance, page 1

posted on Dec, 30 2004 @ 12:04 AM

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Responding to the crisis in Asia, the U.S. Navy has diverted a flotilla of ships to head to the region. The USS Abraham Lincoln strike group along with the Expeditionary Strike Group 5 will provide humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to countries in the hard hit region. Included in this movement is a number of P3-C Orion patrol craft to conduct search and rescue missions from a base in Thailand.

www.10news.com
Six San Diego-based ships have been diverted to provide disaster and humanitarian assistance to victims of the earthquake and tsunamis in south Asia, according to the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet.

The ships, with Expeditionary Strike Group 5, include the amphibious ships Bonhomme Richard, Duluth and Rushmore, the guided-missile cruiser Bunker Hill, guided-missile destroyer Milius and guided-missile frigate Thach.

The strike group, which departed from San Diego on Dec. 6, will provide humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to the governments of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and other affected nations, according to the Navy.

More than 70,000 people were killed when a magnitude 9 earthquake generated massive tsunamis that swept across the Indian Ocean and devastated the coastlines of 12 nations.

The Navy is also sending the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, according to the Seventh Fleet. P-3C Orion surveillance aircraft have also been sent to Thailand, where they will conduct search and rescue operations.

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Of all of these ships, the Bonhomme Richard and the Abraham Lincoln are the key. The Bonhomme Richard provides a major trauma hospital that is self sufficient and has a desalination capacity to help with water issues. The Abraham Lincoln will help serve as a command post and offer another platform for supply distribution as well as medical help.

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
ALERT! 9.0 Quake, Tsunamis Strike SE Asia - Estimates: 100,000+ Dead

WyrdeOne

posted on Dec, 30 2004 @ 12:14 AM

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That's excellent news. Desalination is critical, supremely critical. Why has DART not responded? Also, the latest earthquakes showing up are in Asian waters, Ryuku Islands. Maybe the relief effort undertaken by the Navy battle group was secondary to getting out of the way (We'll know in a couple of days, if there is a 9.0 in Asia with resulting enormous tidal waves), but that's just a random tangent.

Point of this post being, there are a large number of people in that region who will die without large scale desalination assistance. All groups capable of providing this sort of technical assistance had damn well better respond in a timely fashion. Forget expensive, it's the right thing to do. It's actually a much better gift than a million, or a billion dollars. If these people can't get their wells cleaned of salt water, no amount of money will save their villages.

FredT

posted on Dec, 30 2004 @ 12:39 AM

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The Bonhomme Richard can make 200,000 gallons a day of fresh water and has a 600 bed hospital with ICU and surgical suites. They need many of these ships!

Onboard distilling plants provide up to 200,000 gallons of fresh water each day.

600 bed hospital

WASP Class