Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Intruder on the Truman British and U.S. authorities are investigating how an intruder from West Africa managed to sneak aboard the Norfolk-based aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman in England last month. A man was discovered on the carrier on April 9 during a port visit to Portsmouth, England, according to Lt. Mike Kafka, 2nd Fleet spokesman in Norfolk. A search of the ship and the surrounding area turned up nothing suspicious. The visitor was unwelcome nevertheless. "The Ministry of Defense was contacted and asked to remove the individual from the ship," Kafka said. The man had made his way onto the Royal Navy's Portsmouth Naval Base and onto a boat ferrying sailors back to the Truman from shore leave. "They were anchored off so they were using the liberty boats to get back and forth," Kafka said. The man was initially held under a British anti-terrorist act after spending as long as two hours aboard the Truman, according to media there, but was later turned over to local police... Carrier gets unwelcome visitor (Daily Press, Hampton Roads VA) It sounds like this happened during the evening just as sailors were coming back from liberty, which is the perfect opportunity for someone trying to sneak aboard, expecially with the large number of people attached to an aircraft carrier.   It is even more understandable when you read further on that the guy has a history of getting into supposedly secure areas. Nevertheless, it is quite an emberassment as he had managed to slip past base security and then the ship's watch, both of which are supposed to be checking IDs. Military comment []12:42:40 PM   trackback []

Base closure list to be released on Friday State braces for release of base closure list (Fort Myers News-Press) Camp Blanding's star may rise with base closings (Florida Times-Union) As the articles hint, things are looking good for Florida. The state certainly isn't facing anything like 1995 when NAS Cecil Field (Jacksonville) and and Recruit Training Center (Navy boot camp) Orlando were put on the chopping block. My father and I have a couple of predictions. One is that NAS Brunswick (Maine) will be closed with its squadrons transferred to NAS Jacksonville. The other is that NS Kings Bay (Georgia) will be closed with its subs and associated commands transferred to Norfolk. For details on the base closing process check out the DOD's Base Realignment and Closure 2005 page. Military comment []12:05:29 PM   trackback []