MSC Delivers Relief and Support

By Gillian Brigham
SEALOGEUR Public Affairs

Military Sealift Command command ship USS Mount Whitney arrives in Poti, Georgia, to deliver humanitarian supplies to alleviate the suffering of the Georgian people affected by the conflict with Russia. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jason T. Bailey

Boatswain's Mate Anthony Brooks was one of the first ashore. At the helm of Military Sealift Command command ship USS Mount Whitney's 33-foot admiral's barge, he and several of his fellow civil service mariners jetted across the waves in the southeast corner of the Black Sea, heading toward land.

It was Sept. 6, less than a month after Russia attacked Georgian troops subduing separatist forces in the country's breakaway province of South Ossetia – a move that turned a small, fledgling democracy in the Caucasus into a geopolitical flashpoint in the global arena. Brooks and his team were in the middle of it all, steering their boat into the Georgian port of Poti. They were on a mission – watched by the entire world – to deliver humanitarian aid to the people of Georgia.

Mount Whitney, the U.S. 6th Fleet command ship with a hybrid crew of 157 Sailors and 145 civil service mariners under the leadership of a Navy captain, departed its homeport in Gaeta, Italy, to participate in Operation Assured Delivery. Their mission was to deliver more than 17 tons of supplies in the aftermath of the month-long Georgia-Russia War, which saw thousands of Georgians displaced from their homes and in need of humanitarian assistance.

Able seamen Derrick Moore and Kyle Gibson, civilian mariners aboard Military Sealift Command oceanographic survey ship USNS Pathfinder, prepare to launch a side-scan sonar during an at-sea capabilities demonstration in the Black Sea Sept. 11. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jenniffer Rivera

When Brooks and the watercraft's crew pulled into the port, they were greeted by a small contingent of cheering Georgians. When Brooks and his crew returned to the port later in the day, the crowd had swelled to more than 100 people.

"We were making a delivery of hope," said Cargo Mate Stephen McLaughlin. Mount Whitney's relief cargo included blankets, juice, powdered milk and hygiene products.

Mount Whitney remained anchored off the coast of Poti because the port had been devastated by three days of intense shelling. A massive crane barge ferried supplies from the ship into Poti.

"It was a complicated operation, but the deck department made it look easy," said Chief Mate Gene Lovitt. "I owe the success of it to them."

Able Seaman Frank Santana, a Military Sealift Command civil service mariner aboard command ship USS Mount Whitney, moves pallets of blankets donated to Georgia by U.S. Agency for International Development. U.S. Navy photo

Mount Whitney mariners also operated three boats throughout the mission, transporting government officials, senior military officers and dozens of members of the international press from the shore to the ship and back again.

"I was really impressed with our junior personnel," said McLaughlin. "We had a lot going on, and our able and ordinary seamen really stepped up and operated the boats and assisted passengers like it was something they did every day."

Beyond the high-profile nature of the mission, Mount Whitney and its crew performed the duties in a dangerous environment under close scrutiny from Russian military forces, who had a command post a mere three miles from the ship's anchorage in Poti. A Russian warship also trailed Mount Whitney during its trek across the Black Sea. In spite of all the challenges, Mount Whitney played a vital role in the overall U.S. military effort to bring hope and a helping hand to the people of Georgia.

"This was one of the most important and successful missions Mount Whitney has performed in her 38-year existence," said the ship's commanding officer Navy Capt. Owen P. Honors. "The entire crew performed admirably. I'm very proud of them."

Following the mission, Mount Whitney returned to Gaeta Sept. 15.

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Four hundred nautical miles to the north, off the coast of Sevastopol, Ukraine, MSC oceanographic survey ship USNS Pathfinder was engaged in a much different kind of Black Sea mission from Sept. 4 to 17.

In April 2008, Ukraine's Department of Underwater Heritage sent a letter to U.S. 6th Fleet Commander Vice Adm. James Winnefeld requesting assistance investigating shipwrecks in Ukraine's territorial waters. In particular, they were interested in locating the Soviet hospital ship SS Armenia, which sank off the coast of Sevastopol during World War II with 7,000 people onboard.

Personnel from the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office, U.S.-based Institute for Exploration and the Ukrainian Department of Underwater Heritage monitor sound pulses that a side-scan sonar is picking up on the ocean’s floor during the joint, at-sea capabilities demonstration aboard Military Sealift Command oceanographic survey ship USNS Pathfinder. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jenniffer Rivera

In the midst of the U.S. response to the Russia-Georgia conflict, Pathfinder arrived in Sevastopol to kick off a joint, oceanographic survey venture. In addition to Pathfinder's civilian mariner crew and hydrographers from the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office, Ukrainian sailors, oceanographers and historians took part in the mission. So did a team of oceanographers from the U.S.-based Institute for Exploration, an organization founded by famed underwater explorer Dr. Bob Ballard, known for discovering the wreckage of the Titanic.

For 10 days, the team surveyed within the 12-mile zone of Ukraine's territorial waters. They operated side-scan sonar and multi-beam sonar which uses sound pulses on the ocean floor to locate possible shipwrecks. Once a shipwreck was located, the surveyors deployed a remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, with underwater video capabilities to investigate further.

"This is the first time we've been aboard any Navy vessel doing this kind of ocean survey," said Dr. Serhiy Voronov, director of Ukraine's Department of Underwater Heritage. "It was a great experience for my entire team to use the equipment and also have the expertise of our colleagues aboard Pathfinder."

While SS Armenia eluded the surveyors, the team identified more than 15 other shipwrecks. Their finds notably included the World War II German submarine U-18 and World War I Russian minelayer RUS Prut.

A Georgian woman makes a temporary home in a former military hospital in Tbilisi. The building serves as housing for more than 900 internally displaced Georgians from Gori and Tskhinvali. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jason T. Bailey

The war in Georgia and the subsequent heightened tensions in the Black Sea threatened to overshadow the success of Pathfinder's mission. Like Mount Whitney, Pathfinder conducted her work under the gaze of a Russian warship that tailed the oceanographic ship as it cut swaths across the water, searching for relics from wars past.

However, on board Pathfinder, the focus remained on the burgeoning partnership between the U.S. and Ukrainian navies and on what lay in the murky waters below them.

During the search, the oceanographers set up a big-screen television in the ship's laboratory so that everyone could watch a live feed of the ROV diving and collecting video of U-18 and Prut.

"It was a sight to behold. Men and women from age 19 to 60, bunched together, not taking their eyes off the screens, anticipating the moment we'd recognize the ghost of a ship," said Senior NAVOCEANO surveyor Marian Clough. "All these people who could hardly communicate with each other due to different nationalities and languages, we all were sharing the same wonder. This is what it is all about – shipmates and colleagues sharing a moment that no one will ever forget and which bonds us all together."