Exeunt Vinson
February 1st, 2010 | Aviation Carriers Maritime operations | Posted by Phil Ewing
The Carl Vinson left the Haitian coast Monday and continued its trip around South America to its homeport // Navy
One moment you’re a 95,000-ton war machine just back from a refueling and complex overhaul, ready for a leisurely cruise around South America to your sunny West Coast homeport, and the next moment you’re steaming at top speed on a mission of mercy to a Caribbean island wrecked by a natural disaster. The life of a carrier is a life of extremes, and never has that been more true than for the Carl Vinson, which was excused today after spending half of January on station as a mobile airport for helicopters flying relief missions over earthquake-stricken Haiti. Also cut loose were the cruiser Bunker Hill — which will ride shotgun for Vinson on their trip to San Diego — the destroyer Higgins and the survey ship Henson.
This Navy story has the latest fun-facts about Carl Vinson’s accomplishments in the Haiti rescue mission, including 2,200 sorties by its aircraft, delivering more than 166 tons of food, 89,000 gallons of water and 38,700 pounds of medical supplies, although, as Galrahn has pointed out, the more attention you pay to the official Haiti aid statistics, the more confused you’ll be.
Here’s another one to make things even more complicated: Scoop Deck asked Rear Adm. Joseph Mulloy, who gave the Navy’s budget brief Monday at the Pentagon, about the cost implications of the Haiti mission to the Navy’s operations and maintenance account. He said the Pentagon’s latest figures showed the Navy’s “burn rate” for Haiti was about $3 million per day, although there were no estimates yet for a total cost because the response is ongoing. Mulloy also said the cost of the response was expected to shift as high-price, big-ticket assets like Carl Vinson and the Aegis warships retire, leaving behind the Nassau and Bataan amphibious ready groups and the panoply of Coast Guard and Military Sealift Command ships that will likely be needed off Haiti for several weeks more.
Vinson arrived off Haiti on Jan. 15. Not counting Monday, that’s 16 days on station. Sixteen times $3 million is $48 million. That’s not including the $100 million President Obama has committed to humanitarian aid for Haiti. But never fear, Mulloy said — the Pentagon was reprogramming about $400 million for Southern Command to provide stopgap funding for the Haiti rescue operations. So if the “burn rate” remains constant — and in reality it’s likely to decrease without the four ships that have already left — SouthCom will have enough money for just over 133 more days of Haiti operations. Then again, this is Pentagon math we’re attempting here, so who knows how the numbers will actually come out in the end.
Tags: Haiti
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Carrier Alternative Weekly « New Wars Says:
February 4th, 2010 at 6:02 am[...] carrier USS Carl Vinson is departing from the Island of Haiti after its mission of mercy there. Scoop Deck has the details: Scoop Deck asked Rear Adm. Joseph Mulloy, who gave the Navy’s budget brief [...]
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The Scoop Deck – The blue-green team in Haiti: Work continues Says:
February 4th, 2010 at 3:28 pm[...] these days, and the Navy has already withdrawn some of the ships — notably the carrier Carl Vinson — that were first to respond. That doesn’t mean the work has stopped, though. The [...]