Any news for NAS Pensacola??

[The Chief]

NMCB 1 Seabees Depart for Pensacola, Begin Disaster Recovery Operations
Story Number: NNS040917-14
Release Date: 9/17/2004 4:59:00 PM



By Journalist 1st Class (SW) Dennis J. Herring, Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 1 Public Affairs

GULFPORT, Miss. (NNS) -- A team of Seabees departed Construction Battalion Center, Gulport, Miss., at 1 a.m. Sept. 17 for Pensacola, Fla., to establish a command center for disaster recovery operations.

Seabees with Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 1 spent the night of Sept. 16 loading trucks with communications equipment and tools to assist with initial recovery operations. NMCB 1 officials received the order to deploy Sept. 16 at 5 p.m. and began preparations for the trip. Less than eight hours later, more than 40 Seabees departed on the initial trip.

“Our Seabees really came through and completed the preparations in record time,” said Lt. Cmdr. Scot Sanders, NMCB 1 operations officer.

“We deployed a reconnaissance team, a disaster recovery team and a group to establish the on-scene command post at Naval Air Station Pensacola for Rear Adm. (sel.) Wayne Shear from Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) in Washington,” said Lt. j.g. Ryan Carey, of NMCB 1’s operations team. “Shear will be the on-scene commander for recovery operations in the area.”

“Pensacola base officials have estimated the damage on the three military bases at more than $100 million,” Carey said. “We have been told that more than 20 percent of the windows on base have been blown out, and all of the roofs have damage. There was also severe flooding. Health and safety is the major concern at this time.”

A team of 115 Seabees from NMCB 1 has been selected to depart Gulfport Sept. 18. No time for their return has been decided.

“The combined teamwork of the 22nd Naval Construction Regiment, the 20th Seabee Readiness Group and NMCB 1 ensured that the Seabees were able to respond in very short order to make a difference in support of an extremely important mission,” added NMCB 1 Commanding Officer Cmdr. Louis V. Cariello.

 

[Bevo16]

I have heard that South Whiting got hit by a Tornado. I am not sure about the damage to the field and all of my sources are with the helo's up in Memphis. Their word is that Pensacola Approach will be down for over a month, and all of the ATC radar gear is sitting in a heap on the runway at Pensacola Regional. There is not much use in flying everyone back to Florida right now, so they are trying to think of alternate places to train. They may set up shop somewhere else on the gulf coast for a while.

 

[Nukewife425]

Just to let you know my husband is at OCS right now, scheduled to graduate in 2 weeks and it doesnt look good. They all went to Corry Stationa and they are all fine but they do not know when for sure they will return to NAS or when they are going to graduate.

 

[kray1395]

Let's see, first pick for Primary..........not Pensacola....................

And finally, almost 48 hours after landfall of Hurricane Ivan, the Pensacola area gets it's first bit of good news.

 

[The Chief]

Flora-Bama still stands. Water damage, lots of sand, most of decking gone, but Flora-Bama lives on for another day.

 

[EngineGirl]

And finally, almost 48 hours after landfall of Hurricane Ivan, the Pensacola area gets it's first bit of good news.

Nice...lol

 

[petescheu]

Crap.... I was planning a cross-country there the weekend of the 8th. Any FOs/Helo guys know what kind of status they're at for transients?

Squeeze - Go to San Diego, you won't regret it (it's a 2 hop out there/back) Awesome out there... plus you'll only have to deal with earthquakes and fires instead of hurricanes.

 

[Bevo16]

Crap.... I was planning a cross-country there the weekend of the 8th. Any FOs/Helo guys know what kind of status they're at for transients?

I don't think that anybody is going to be headed to the Pensacola area anytime soon. Yesterday I heard from a Mexican source that we both know that P-Cola approach is totally trashed and will not be up an running at a capacity to handle training for at least a month. If they can't handle their local traffic, I doubt that they are going to want visitors.

Come on out to San Diego. I'll have a beer cold for ya.

 

[PropStop]

bamboo willies....NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
flounders......NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Well, pensacola needed a facelift anyhow. wonder how McGuier's took it.

 

[The Chief]

NAS damage: Hundreds of millions
Brett Norman, Pensacola News Journal

Hurricane Ivan has brought to a standstill the training of new Naval aviators and their support personnel.

Pensacola Naval Air Station has sustained “hundreds of millions” of dollars in damage and will be closed for repairs indefinitely, said Capt. John Pruitt, commanding officer at the base.

About 9,000 students, training to become anything from aviation electricians to Naval flight officers, are stationed aboard the base at any given time, said spokesman Patrick Nichols.

All buildings along the water, particularly those in the historic Navy yards area in the southeastern section of the base, have been flooded badly. Many have lost all or portions of their roofs.

“I’ve described it as almost catastrophic,” said Pruitt, dressed in full fatigues and wearing gold-rimmed sunglasses.

During an interview with reporters Saturday, Pruitt said he was “a little stunned” when he first saw the damage. He was one of about 200 people who rode out the storm on the base. No one was injured.

“(The storm surge) swept through the entire historical landmark district within the old wall area,” he said of first seeing the destruction.

Pruitt’s home, which he estimated is a quarter mile from the water, had 5 feet of water in it.
The damaged buildings housed functions from port operations to the Marines’ water survival school, a photography laboratory and Navy recruiter training.

Barracks for the Naval Air Technical Training Center, which has 6,000 students, have suffered water damage. Pruitt said he could not estimate when the students would be able to return to base, or when the schools could begin teaching.

The students are staying in shelters around the area until the living quarters can be made livable again, Nichols said.

A group was working to clean out the USS George Washington barracks Saturday afternoon.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Wayne Buchanan was leading the students, who were dragging carpet outside and beginning to pile up the debris on the grounds.

Asked about the students’ first reaction, he said “For the most part, they just didn’t want to do all the work. Everybody just wanted to come back and go to school.”

It wouldn’t keep them from working, however.

“This may not be their own barracks, but we’re all in the Navy,” Buchanan said. “We’re going to take care of one another.”

In one of the most dramatic scenes of destruction, more than 100 sailboats and motor yachts docked at the base’s Bayou Grande Marina were destroyed or severely damaged, piled up one on top of another, sometimes three high.

Small waves lapped against the boats’ broken hulls. Halyards clanked against masts.

The only other sound was the boats’ various repeating alarms in the background.

“They’re stacked up like twigs,” said Cmdr. Russ Bartlett, who pilots the No. 1 Blue Angel. “It’s incredible.”

The Navy’s precision flight-demonstration team canceled their show in Nantucket this weekend and returned to Pensacola early Saturday afternoon.

The Blue Angels will not fly their scheduled show in Virginia’s Oceana, Va., next weekend, either.

“It would be kind of disingenuous for us to be up flying air shows when we can be doing good work down here,” Bartlett said.

He said the team would leave their FA-18 Hornets at the air station, but wouth take Fat Albert, the team’s C-130 transport plane, and set up a temporary base in New Orleans.

“I met with Captain Pruitt and said we’ll do whatever he wants to help,” Bartlett said.

Asked if the damage would impact the next round of the Base Realignment and Consolidation process, Pruitt declined to comment.

He said top Navy officials had given him full support of the effort to rebuild.

That is where all efforts are focused.

No new trainees will be arriving anytime soon.

“The first step is to get it back to where people can live here,” Nichols said.

Even President Bush’s visit, scheduled for Sunday, was secondary to reconstruction efforts.

“The president understands that and doesn’t expect a lot of bells and whistles,” Pruitt said.

 

[The Chief]

Photos of NAS Pensacola

http://www.news.navy.mil/view_photos.asp

 

[PropStop]

two words, HOLY CRAP!

i hope there is some news soon of the Aviaton museum.

Cool of the base skipper to stay too.

 

[kray1395]

I saw some news about the museum somewhere. I don't remember so I'll just tell you what I remember from it. Apparently it did really well. They had some minor roof damage but virtually none of the exhibits inside were affected. Some of the static aircraft on the ramp outside of the museum did suffer damage. The only example that I could remember was that an A-6 had it's canopy sheared off. Maybe that was the A-6 that was parked over at schools command a few weeks ago?? I wondered how the Hornet that replaced it did. All in all, seems that the museum should be up and ready to go before the rest of the base really gets hopping. I found this amazing to hear seeing how the museum is so close to the water. Anyways, there you go.

 

[PropStop]

Kray, thanks for the heads up. maybe tempered glass is the way to go.

you say the replaced the A-6 at school's command with a hornet?

 

[squeeze]

damn...oh well, guess those rotorheads I was going to hang out with won't wing then after all....

San Diego here I come.

Bevo - I'll shoot you an email shortly....I've been slackin on replies.