Rough Anchorage For U.S. Carrier

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31840, 19 November 1968, Page 1

Rough Anchorage For U.S. Carrier

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, November 18.

High winds, with gusts of up to 75 miles an hour, tonight hampered arrangements to give the crew of the aircraft carrier U.S.S. America their shore leave.

The America anchored in Wellington Harbour this afternoon and the fleet of small craft, which was to transfer the crew from the anchorage to the shore base, about a mile and a half away, was kept circling the 1047 ft carrier for about two hours till a suitable access could be arranged. j

Finally, a gangway was rigged in the shelter of the stern but transfer of the liberty men was still difficult because of the rough seas.

Some of the crew who were to have gone ashore about 4 p.m. were still waiting for liberty boats about four hours later.

Most of the crew with leave managed to get ashore by 9.30 p.m., many having to return to their ship at midnight.

1 The carrier, which is the i largest ship of any kind to 'visit Wellington, had to wait for high tide before entering i the heads soon after 2.30 p.m. When it crossed the shallowest portion of the harbour lit had only five feet to spare I under its 37ft draught. i Salute Fired ! A 21-gun salute was fired by the ship as she entered haribour and a return salute was ; fired by the Royal New Zeai land Artillery battery at Point ■ Jerningham. The carrier anchored in the harbour off Point Jerningham. She is too large to berth. Because of a ban by the Seamen's Uniop the original plans to ferry liberty men

ashore had to be- abandoned and tourist craft from Picton were hired by the United States Embassy for the task.

Hired Launches In addition to .the four hired tourist launches, harbour board tugs, pilot launches, police.and naval launches and private craft, including one runabout with an outboard

motor, were used to transfer the crew to shore.

At one stage, jvhile arrangements were being made for a gangway, there were 15 small craft circling the carrier. A senior officer of the America would neither confirm nor deny that the ship was carrying nuclear weapons. Captain Whitney Wright, chief of staff for a division of the carrier, said it was not the United States Navy's policy to discuss whether nuclear weapons were carried on board a combat ship. “We do carry missiles, is all I can say,” Captain Wright said. Captain Wright said four blue and white missiles which were arranged in pairs either side of the stern of the carrier, were dummies. “Just for show,” he said. She’s no thing of beauty, the U.S.S. America—efficient no doubt, sinister perhaps, but completely lacking in-,ele-gance, said a Press Association message today. The super carrier, one of the newest and largest in the United States fleet, was intercepted by reporters and photographers 32 miles off the New Zealand coast. Preview Made The flight out and 30 minutes circling the giant was by courtesy of United States Navy Antarctic Support Force headquarters, Christchurch, which sent a United States Navy DC3 to Wellington to give reporters a preview of the ship. She was not quite what they expected. She is squat and fat, her stern cut off sharply. The breadth of her flight deck and its height above the sea dwarfs her 1069-foot length. Her white deck markings are soiled and worn, and the orange paint at the end of her landing strip is dulled. Just two years in service, the America lost her original appearance off the shores of Vietnam.