Nor’ wester snuffs out Truxtun protest Gale snuffs out Truxtun protest

Press, 23 September 1980, Page 1

Nor’ wester snuffs out Truxtun protest

Gale snuffs out Truxtun protest

PA Wellington A planned protest by anti-nuclear . campaigners against the visit of- the American nuclear-powered cruiser Truxtun fizzled out yesterday: a typical Wellington nor'-wester, kept most of the boats out of the water. Instead of a “peace fleet” of about 25 boats zig-zagging in front of the Truxtun as she sailed into the harbour, only about six launches and yachts were on.hand as the cruiser came through the heads at 7.30 a.m. The other protesters did not dare put to sea in the face of winds of 50 knots and much stronger gusts. “The .sea is too rough and we have to put safety first,” said ‘Mr CharlieGibson, co-ordinator of the Coalition Against Nuclear Warships.Screened by police and Navy patrol craft, the 9000-ton, missile-armed

Truxtun steamed up the channel and anchored off the wharves without incident. None of the “peace fleet” that did put to sea came close to the Truxtun. One Laser yacht that looked as if it might get in the path of the cruiser was warned off. The Laser later capsized ■ and . was helped by water-borne police. The protective cordon round the Truxtun was well organised by the police, who had 150 men on duty ashore and at sea to deal with possible trouble. A Navy Wasp helicopter flew overhead giving directions. The only casualty of the ■ morning was a police sergeant who slipped and broke an ankle on the heaving deck of a patrol boat. ~ The Wellington police district deputy command-

er, Chief Superintendent S. B. McEwen, one of several policemen flown out to the Truxtun before she entered the harbour, said, “It was the sort of weather we wanted.” He said that the few demonstrators who had risked the choppy seas had abided by the rules “and we could not ask for more than that.” The Truxtun’s skipper, Captain Mac. Baldwin, said, “It was very easy, with a lot of good help from the police.” A handful of demonstrators jeered Captain Baldwin and other officers as they came ashore at 10 a.m. for a news conference at the United States Embassy. - But the 500 Truxtun sailors who will • have .shore leave this week are not expected to ...be, .ha-. rassed. The seamen are anxious to get on land after a mission that began

in February and will not end until the Truxtun reaches her home port of San Diego next month. Although the ship docked for leave at Subic Bay, in the Philippines, recently, crew members are weary of the long away-from-home assignment, which has included a three-month unbroken spell of duty in the Indian ocean. Brian Whitehead writes that only one minor incident marked the arrival of the Truxtun: a protester in a small canoe was picked out of the water in his craft when he paddled from the inter-island ferry terminal to the Truxtun’s anchorage near the Kaiwharawhara reclamation.

He was 25m inside the 100 m limit when police in the launch Lady Elizabeth II lifted him from the water with ropes after he had ignored warnings to stop. , The police said that the man, Mr J. M. McGregor, “made a bolt for it over the side” as soon as he had been taken abroad. He was taken from the water, again with boat hooks and returned to the wharf. Only five protesters bearing one placard appeared on the main wharf. About 25 protest vessels were sheltering near Seatoun when the Truxtun arrived at the heads. The few that sailed out into the channel were outnumbered and dwarfed by three Navy fisheries patrol craft, the Rotoiti, the Taupo, and the Hawea, three Naval Volunteer Reserve motor boats from Dunedin, Christchurch, and Wellington, and 10 police craft. Captain Baldwin confirmed that the Truxtun was equipped with ASROC anti-submarine missiles and Terrier anti-aircraft

. missiles, both types capI able of carrying nuclear I warheads. > He said that the Truxtun’s crew kept in touch with wives and family through an ombudsman in San Diego who relayed regular cables to them from the ship. Television newsreels covering events less than two weeks old were “posted” to the Truxtun. Talent quests, carnivals, picnics, and contests were organised during long runs. A “dial-a-sailor” telephone connection to the Truxtun was made late yesterday morning and after three hours 30 offers of hospitality had been received. “Not a very good response,” said an operator on board the Truxtun. “We think it is because there is only one line.” The longest run by the Truxtun was in 1971, when, on a special mission, she steamed 8600 miles at an average speed of 28 knots. The Truxtun’s second visit to Wellington is the fifth visit to a New Zealand port by an American nuclear-powered warship. The other visits were to Auckland hy the Pintado, the Long Beach, and the submarine Haddo.