By Graham Davis
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BIG
SHIP: The giant US aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan is escorted into Brisbane. The
97,000 tonne ship is the pride of the US Seventh Fleet.
Photo: MIDN Dylan
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It
was “all hands on deck” and wharf for 120 Australian sailors, soldiers
and airmen when “Big Ronnie”, the 97,000 tonne US aircraft carrier Ronald
Reagan, came to town late last month.
With a length of 344 metres, powered
by two nuclear reactors and with 5,900 officers and sailors and their 70 aircraft,
Ronald Reagan is the largest aircraft carrier ever to be built for the United
States.
Arrangements for the carrier to visit Brisbane and for her support
ships to visit Mackay and Townsville, had been under way for a year.
It
meant a lot of work for the permanent and full time RAN staff attached to the
South-East Queensland Naval District under the Commanding Officer Navy Headquarters
– South Queensland, CMDR Bob Plath.
Lynchpin was LCDR Merv Russell,
a Reservist with 25 years experience who is the region’s Visiting Ships Liaison
Officer/Operations. He was assisted by Operations Officer LEUT Jason Cameron.
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Two RAN
tugs, Wallaroo and Bandicoot, assisted in Brisbane, along with the DMS launch,
Turtle.
The Master Attendant’s office in Sydney dispatched CMDR Alex
Hawes and his team to join Brisbane Ports’ pilot CAPT Steve Pelacanos and
his team on the bridge of the carrier to guide her safely to the wharf.
CAPT
Pelacanos later likened the experience to controlling a “toy boat.”
A day after the ship left Brisbane, one of her FA 18C Hornets ditched into the
sea. The pilot ejected safely.”
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