By AV Latinggam
The ship, iron grey in the horizon floated on the blue
sea, silhouetted against the islands off Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. It had moved into the Malaysian waters on Saturday
Sept 30, 2012. As it docked, invited guests comprising local dignitaries went on
board, and were hosted by its officers.
Its sailors actually flooded the city of Kota Kinabalu later; where young men and women wandered around shopping and getting something to eat. Interestingly, they seem to go in groups, mostly frequenting mobile telephone shops and International Fast Food outlets.
I was one of the visitors fortunate enough, well, if it could be called that, to be invited on board that floating hugeness, the nuclear powered Aircraft Carrier, named USS
John C Stennis. As I neared the carrier, its impressive size made me slightly nervous which did not dissipate with the smiles of the officers on board. In some ways the hugeness and the grey-ness of the carrier was a bit intimidating. In another way it was awesome. At the back of my mind a voice said "Behold the Might of Man..." Well.
The gigantic carrier, with its broody grey countenance ,
was a show of the United States of America (USA) might in this part of the
world; with its fleet of some 70 aircraft on board, including helicopters
called MH-60R Seahawks and MH-60S Knighthawk as well as it F/A-18F Super
Hornet, F/A-18C Hornet and C-2A Greyhound fighter plane. There is also the EA-6B
Prowler and the E-2C Hawkeye.
The carrier at 1092 feet in length and 257 feet in width
by 244 feet in height has a flight deck of four and a half acre, all studded
with hooks for the plane to park, ensuring that they did not move and cause
damage.
They can cause a lot of damage to enemies though as
stated in a welcoming pamphlet ‘In Operation Enduring Freedom and Iraqi
Freedom, carrier-based air wings have flown strike and other missions against Taliban
and Al-Qaeda terrorist forces in Afghanistan and targets associated with and
including the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq.’ It went on to expound that the US aircraft
carriers
During the media tour, Lieutenant Michael Smith Assistant
Public Affairs Officer on the carrier relates that their 29 days voyage at sea
from the carrier’s home port Bremerton, Washington has been a smooth one even
when they passed over rough sea due to the on-going typhoon over South East
Asia towards the northern islands of Japan and Korea.
“Because it is so big, we can’t really feel it,” he said
adding that it was made for durability and strength.
The carrier can travel to more than 30 knots an hour or
approximately 30 nautical miles an hour, and boasts two nuclear reactors
allowing it to steam for more than one million miles before refuelling.
The John C. Stennis being the seventh Nimitz-class
nuclear-powered super carrier in the United States Navy, was named for Senator
John C. Stennis of Mississippi and commissioned in 1994, he shared.
According to record, Stennis was a US senator who served
with eight presidents beginning with Harry Trumen in 1947 and ending with
Ronald Reagan in 1988. As Chairman of
the Senate Armed Services Committee from 1969 to 1980, he supported a string US
Military.
Speaking of nuclear powered aircraft carriers in 1979, he
was quoted as saying, “ It carries everything and goes full strength and is
ready to fight or go into action within minutes after it arrives at its
destination there is nothing that compares with it when it comes to
deterrence.”
Indeed.
With the 5500 people on board comprising of deck sailors
aged averaged at 21 and sailors with an average age of 26, their officers and
other supports, they did and do indeed show the might of the American Navy.
On their visit here to Sabah Malaysian Borneo Smith said
it was a show of solidarity and camaraderie with Malaysia, honouring their
strong ties.
On whether they would pass through Spratley Islands, and
towards Senkaku Island fought over by Japan and China, Smith said he was not
privy to that information, but shared that they were moving towards the Middle
East.
On a lighter note, it was learned that the carrier had
some glamorous encounters of its own. In
2009, it was seen as a background for the science fiction movie
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
In 2002's movie ‘The Sum of all Fears’ she was crippled
by Russian bombers equipped with anti-ship missiles. “In Revenge of the
Fallen’, the Stennis was also featured and in 2011 in the game “Homefront’ it also feature half sunk just outside of
Modesto, California.
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