Navy Carrier Sails to Rescue - All Ahead Flank!

The carrier Carl Vinson was just hours out of port when the news broke. A magnitude 7.0 earthquake had just struck the impoverished nation of Haiti. Vinson, then about 1,200 miles away, turned south and went to flank speed. At thirty knots, 34 mph, it would take her about 35 hours to reach the stricken nation.

Does that sound like a movie? It is what happened January 13 through 15, 2010.

The USS Carl Vinson is one of eleven nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in the United States Navy. The five thousand sailors aboard man one of the deadliest fighting machines ever created. Carriers like the Vinson allow the United States to project power to every corner of the globe, to act in the military and political interests of the nation.

We were able to interview Captain Bruce Lindsey, the skipper of the Vinson on Saturday, January 23. Vinson is currently sailing about five miles off shore of Port-au-Prince, the earthquake ravaged capital of Haiti. He talked to us about the assistance that the carrier, its sailors and its aircraft are rendering to the Haitian people.

As the Vinson sped southward, the flight deck was busy. Fourteen helicopters were flown to the ship to augment the five already on board. Supplies were transferred by air from Mayport, Florida, and from the Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay.

Vinson's arrival gave a boost to the relief efforts. Captain Lindsay told us that they were flying about 60 sorties from the ship each day. The helicopters do not just fly off the ship. They land where they are needed and transport supplies or injured as necessary. The copters are performing 180-240 landings per day.

En route, the Vinson put 120 sailors through training so that they could be deployed on land. Those sailors are ashore, helping with loading and unloading both at the airport and at various relief sites. Lindsay told us that many more sailors have volunteered for this duty and they are going to be used as possible, so as to not affect the operation of the ship.

The Captain spoke proudly of the work that his non-coms and enlisted personnel had put into developing a water tree to fill multiple water containers at the same time. Vinson can easily produce thousands of gallons of pure water. By checking on-line, the sailors discovered a device that the sailors on the USS Lincoln used for the same purpose when assisting the victims of the Indonesian tsunami in 2005. They built a series of pipes and nozzles on the flight deck that can fill a large number of 5 gallon containers at one time. Those water containers go out, 32 at a time, on every helicopter that leaves the Vinson.

One of the most unique stories is that of a twelve year old Haitian girl that had been evacuated to the Vinson with a large chuck of concrete embedded in her skull. Surgeons on board needed a medical consultation with a neurosurgeon, and a call went out to locate CNN reporter and practicing neurosurgeon, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Dr. Gupta joined other doctors on board in the delicate task of removing a small piece of the original concrete that had been driven deep into the child's brain. Gupta is well known in military medicine for his work in a combat hospital at the outset of the Iraq war, where he had been again asked for his expert help.

Kimberly Lazare, age 12, has been transferred to the USNS Comfort, a hospital ship recently arrived on scene, for follow up treatment and is expected to recover. Before leaving the Vinson, she was able to speak with family members living in Canada.

Captain Lindsay expects the USS Carl Vinson to remain the the Bay of Haiti for as long as necessary. The public and the families of the sailors aboard are able to stay informed through several social networking sites, the Vinson's Facebook account, the Vinson's Twitter account and photos being posted to Flickr by the Navy.