Chandler (DDG 996) - Naval Cruise Book

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L! J 1 AWAN FRAUGHT AW2(AW) KERN AT3 PEDERSON Lt Richards and ATI Hard(ly) at work. Getting ready for the MEF. Grey searching for yet another chip. AEAN BELLAMY AIR DEPARTMENT AMS3 SALAZAR ADAN UPTON 79

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ATI (AW) SAIDRO AWl(AW) BROWN AIR DET LPO Chief and Joe towing the line. Hurry up the intense is killing me! ADl(AW) POOLE Bath time for Sea Snake Zero Zero. Tl HhL.MSTETTLER 78 AZ2 ALBON Grey suffers from another headache. AIR DEPARTMENT Going out for Camel .lo

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The Air Department, made up of HSL-33 ' s Detachment 3, extended the sensor and weapons range of USS CHANDLER by one hundred miles. Flying Sea Snake 00, an SH-2F know as Hell ' s Belle, her air crewsamassed over 570 flight hours and 650 DLQ s. Headed by Officer-in-Charge LT Paul Essig, Maintenance Officer LT William Hartman and Maintenance Chief ATC(AW) Colin Radford the Det integrated quickly with CHANDLER and proved the worth of the early workup training when, on the first week of the cruise, LT Essig, LT Anthony Richards and AW3 Stephen Fraught had an impending engine failure. Due to teamwork and quick actions the crew saved Belle and were named COMNAVAIRPAC ' s Safety Pros-of-the- Week . Once in the Arabian Gulf AOR, during the MV Yin He surveillance operations, SeaSnake 00 took up gate guard duties, identifying Straits of Hormuz in coming and outgoing surface traffic and conducting a short notice MEDEVAC to Fujarah, U.A.E. On one night flight using Radar, ESM and FLIR she identified the unlocated Iranian SAAM FFl Alvand. With Chandler spending much of her time in the North Arabian Gulf as AAW picket. Belle flew surveillance missions in support of Operation Southern Watch, ranging along the coasts of Kuwait, Iraq and Iran. She kept and eye on traffic form the Shaft al Arab waterway, the Iranian oil port of Bandar ye Khomeini and on the Iraqi Mina al Bakr offshore oil terminal, tracking contacts of Interest carrying supplies to the wrecked terminal. Belle also provided armed coverage for the VBSS teams conducting boarding in support of United Nation sanction against Iraq. When CHANDLER was tasked on short notice to sortie Somalia, Det 3 slung on machine guns and flew 120 combat hours in support of Operation Continue Hope - UNOSOM II. As the only LAMPS helicopter assigned to U.S. Forces, Somalia and Battle Force Zulu her varied missions included surface surveillance and control, anti-smuggling, armed coastal reconnaissance, logistic runs to Mogadishu Airport and USS Abraham Lincoln and gathering targeting information for possible Naval Gunfire Support missions. During the WESTPAC the det flew in multi-national op- erations and exercises with units form Thai, British, Indian and French Navies. LT Nicholas Vodantis, LT Richards, AT2 Joseph Helmstetter, AWAN Fraught, ADAN Justin Upton, AMHAM Juan Salazar and AEAN Jerald Bellamy were cleansed of their slimeyness by becoming Trusty Shellbacks on the occasion of their first cross- ing of the Equator. The Air De- partment flew more hours and completed more missions than any other Pacific Fleet LAMPS MK I detachment in 1993. This was possible only because of the outstanding pit crew led by AMSl Edward Saidro, AD2(AW) Gregory Poole and AT2 Helmstetter, which changed two main gearboxes, three engines, two main rotor blades, three tail rotor blades, one azimuth, one tail rotor gearbox, one speed decrease gearbox and conducted six phase maintenance evolutions. Personal achievements gained during the de- ployment include: 1000 total flight hours reached by LT Hartman, LT Vodantis and AW3(AW) Kcvan Kern, CICWO and OOD qualification by LT Vodantis and ATC(AW) Radford joined DCTT. fm f. 80 AIR DEPARTMENT