Nimitz home with dead

Press, 30 May 1981, Page 8

Nimitz home with dead

NZPA Norfolk, Virginia The airc-alc carrier Nimitz arrived home to a sombre reunion of crew and families yesterday as officers told a tale of courage when a Marines aircraft crashed and plowed through men and machines on the flight deck before exploding in a ball of fire on Tuesday night, according to the “New York Times.” ' “There was a lot of courage up there on that flight deck night before last,” said Rear Admiral Byron Fuller, the commanding officer of the carrier group centred on the Nimitz. As sailors streamed off the ship to look for spouses and parents there were many long hugs. and quick kisses and looks exchanged without much being said. Some relatives fought back tears: others tried but did not make it.

Mrs Joanne Clarke compared the ship's arrival with a scene a year and two days ago when she was at Norfolk in the brilliant sunshine as the Nimitz came back after a long tour in the Indian Ocean.

“That was a glorious day,” she said, recalling that President Carter had gone out to greet the ship before it had sailed into Chesapeake Bay.

Mrs Clarke, whose son Bill Duke, helped to man the qatapaults and who could have been right in the path of the careering Marine Corps plane, said of the last 24 hours, “It’s just been hell.” Her waiting had a happy ending, however, when the ship reported that her son was not among the injured. Admiral Fuller, Captain John Batzler, the commanding officer of the ship, and Commander Fred Lewis, the commander of the air wing, provided more details of the crash in a night training operation. . .» ■ They said that the Marines pilot of the EA-6B had come in too high and had been ordered to go to full power when the landing signal officer had seen that the plane would miss the arresting cables across the flight deck.

The order had been intended to let the plane touch down on the flight deck but to take off right away and go around for another landing attempt.

.The pilot had applied the power but somehow the craft had drifted to the right of the centre line of the flight deck, had smashed into parked planes, and had plowed forward to the left edge of the deck, where the plane had erupted into flames. The captain had ordered the crew to emergency duty stations and firefighters had used water and foam.,to get the flames out in 40 minutes. That is where the courage had surfaced.

“There are many heroes in this,” said Captain Batzler, “and we intend to nominate a large number of them for awards.” Several men on the scene said that ammunition had exploded in the intense heat. Ejection seats from the fighters and attack planes, which automatically activate in intense heat, had flown "all over the place.”

Several men were reported to have been killed by shrapnel rather than flames. Captain Batzler said he believed that most of those killed had died almost instantly in the accident and that none had been killed fighting the fire.

But there were complaints that the firefighters had lacked sufficient protective clothing and that some of their equipment did not function properly. Such chargeswill be part of an investigation.

The destroyed EA-6B-Prowler and two Fl 5 Tomcat"' fighters were pushed over, the side because they might be a hazard and were not considered vital to the investigation of the accident.

The bodies of 13 of the 14 dead were taken by heli-, copter to the PortsmouthNaval Hospital across the river from Norfolk. The body of the fourteenth man is - missing, and is presumed to have been lost at sea during , the accident. ■

Of the 48 wounded, four; had serious burns and 17 others were also in hospital. Of those , remaining, four were still’ in the sick bay aboard the Nimitz and the others were back on duty. Damage to the ship was still being assessed but was thought to be minimal and officers hoped that she would be ready to go back to sea today.