| In 1995 I was deployed
to the Adriatic Sea for Operation Sharp Guard. The United Nations
had sanctioned the Serbs and an embargo on weapons and ammunition
was put in place. To see to it that the embargo wasn't broken the
NATO forces on land sea and air were in the area to keep a sharp eye
on the look out for smugglers and embargorunners.The United States
were also present with several ships and airplanes and 1 of them was
the nuclear aircraftcarrier the USS Theodore Roosevelt CVN-71. During 1 of our offperiods we visited Corfu and in the same bay the carrier was at anchor. Together with a collegue of mine I went towards the shuttleboat which sailed from and to the carrier.At the berthing we asked if it was possible to visit the ship and after we had found a guide to accompany us on board we were on our way towards the ship.My main goal of course was the flightdeck and the hangar.Sadly most of the aircraft were packed close together but we had a very pleasant visit on board. Embarked on board was Carrier Wing 8(CVW8) which was formed with the following units: HS-3 Tridents(SH60) VQ-6 Black Ravens(ES3A) VFA-15 Valions(F18) VS-24 Scouts(S3B) VFA-41 Black Aces(F14) VFA-87 Golden Warriors(F18) VAW-124 Bear Aces(E2C) VMFA-312 Checkerboards(F18).The only unit not present during my visit was Detachment 5 of VRC-40 Rawhides(C2A). |
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Jan Eenling© 2006-2010