Concern at protest swim

Press, 19 March 1984, Page 2

Concern at protest swim

By

PETER COMER

Commander Anderson W. Wacaser had only one moment of apprehension as he brought the frigate U.S.S. Whipple into Lyttelton Harbour on Saturday morning.

“I was a bit dismayed at the swimmer astern of me in the inner harbour, (the Whipple was going astern into her berth), but the police handled the situation just fine,” said Commander Wacaser.

Caught in the frigate’s propeller-wash, the swimming man clung to the ship’s side until he was hauled from the water by policemen in a runabout.

Nine arrests were made during the protest against the visit to Lyttelton of the conventionally powered, nuclear-capable Whipple, here to take part in tlfte “Auckex” anti-submarine exercises with New Zealand and Australian forces.

Forty-two powerboats, yachts, kayaks, sailboards and other craft shepherded the warship as she slid like a grey ghost through the drizzle into Lyttelton about 8.45 a.m. on a dismal morning.

Of the 42 craft, about 20 were manned by the police.

One boat which drew a lot of “flak” from the protest fleet was a tunnelhulled “shark cat” with gaudy yellow “welcome U.S.A.” banners draped over its sides and an oversized “Stars and Stripes” trailing over the stem.

All the time, two Royal New Zealand Air Force helicopters hovered over the proceedings. It was the “peace squadron’s” stated intention that none of its vessels should try to get close to the U.S.S. Whipple or impede her progress, and none did.

About 120 land-bound protesters waved anti-nuclear banners and shouted as the Whipple tied up at No. 2 East berth dead on time at 9 a.m.

Sailors in dress whites lined the rails of the 4000tonne, 133-metre frigate as the anti-nuclear group shouted, “We want you out of our harbour, and we want you out now,” and “Yanks go home.” Some Lyttelton people responded wth a spirited, “Townies go home. We don’t want you over here!”

s2¥aM in relief fund

The national Southland flood relief appeal stands at $2,420,158, the organisers said yesterday. The appeal has 17 days to run.—(PA).

Much of the shouting could not heard from the Whipple, a crewman said later.

Some sailors took pictures of the protesters, who were kept off the wharf by a rope barrier backed by the police. One woman who spoke to the protest group said she hoped others shared her own view — that they should only be anti-nuclear, not anti-American.

Having presented a book to Commander Wacaser in this spirit, the protesters dispersed into the driving rain soon after 10 a.m. Commander Wacaser said that the Whipple’s crew took anti-nuclear demonstrations “for what they’re worth.”

“We have seen bigger (protests) and we’ve seen smaller. My home town is Berkeley, California, so I’ye seen a lot of it,” said Commander Wacaser. Of the New Zealand demonstrators, he said, “They have an undeniable right to make their statement It is a right that is very dear to Americans as well.”

The Whipple is Commander Wacaser’s first command. Part of the Seventh Fleet, and based at Pearl Harbour, her primary role is anti-submarine warfare (“A.S.W.”). The frigate has a nuclear capability, but Commander Wacaser is not permitted to confirm or deny whether she is armed with nuclear weapons.

The Whipple, named for Commodore Abraham Whipple who fired the first shot of the American Revolutionary War, recently spent four months on station in the Persian Gulf.

By the time the warship gets back to “Pearl” she will have been away from base for almost seven months, with about 85 per cent of that time spent at sea. In spite of this, morale was “outstanding,” said Commander Wacaser. He described the tour of duty in the Persian Gulf as typical of being in a naval ship in a “hot spot” — “days of boredom interspersed with days of fright.”

The tenseness of the IranIraq situation has spread to other countries, said Com-

mander Wacaser.

■ “There is enough insantiy to go round up there: the worst thing is not knowing what to expect,” he said. The Whipple carries a Kaman Seasprite multi-pur-pose helicopter. Her armament includes a 127 mm (five-inch) gun, eight Harpoon anti-ship missiles, a launcher for Sea Sparrow anti-aircraft missiles, and an eight-tube Asroc (antisubmarine rocket) launcher. Asrocs can be equipped with nuclear warheads as well as conventional ones.

The police will be stationed at the wharf where the warship is berthed until she sails for Auckland today.

Maoris object, page g