Shasta (AE 33) - Naval Cruise Book

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BLAZE hasta h Hghts Hre at sea Sailors onboard USS SI-IASTA CAE-331 were part of a multina-F tional naval effort to contain a civilian merchant ship fire while opq. ating in the Arabian Gulf. On 29 March 1991, USS SHASTA joined Royal Naval Ship HMS BRILLIANT, Spanish Naval Ship SNS VICTORIA, and USS FRANCIS HAMMOND and USS NIAGRA FALLS ina fourteen hour effort to contain and extinguish fire onboard the MV MERCS I-IORANA, a merchant cargo ship registered out of CSoknnbo,SriLanka. USS SHASTA began sending fire fighting equipment to the scene by helicopter at 2145 flocal timel while still twenty milesa and arrived on station by 2230. Rescue and assistance teams were immediately sent over by utility boats along with the latest in naval fire fighting and damage control equipment. USS SI-IASTA contributed over 312,000 of consumable fire fighting and damage control equipment. Equipment included hoses portable pumps, food CBA breathing cannisters, battle lantems, even the newest Naval Fire Fighting Thermal Imager QNIFTD, u identify heat sources or bodies in smokeffilled environements. By time the fire was extinguished and overhauled, over 70 SHASTA sailors had been directl involved on the decks of the MERCS Y HORANA.

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ECDD i qi... ', ,wwf THE Joe Mine warfare, an almost alien concept to most sailors as they cruise the placid waters off the U. S. coast, became a harsh reality for the USS SHASTA and Battle Group Echo as Saddam Hussein laid Kuwaits' coast' line with a ships, greatest thread f MINES! Fortunately, our det was there to neutralize this problem with a smile. The EOD organization is known as an elite group ofhighly trained professionals. Their job includes the detection, identification, and some- times disposal of explosives on land and in water. They have formal training as scuba divers, demolition experts, and parachutists. Assigned to SHASTA, this deployment is ECU mobile unit 9 det 21. Under the direction of CWCZ EARL DENNIS, the unit UIC, and EMICDVXPD RICK SEKORA, AOICDVXPD BILL STEWART, and AOZCDVXPD CORKY McCORMICK experienced a lifetime's worth of challenge and excitement in one deployment. Because our constant tasking, we were able to witness every facet of the war, from the first shots fired, the support of the most forward deployed ships, to the conclusion of the land war, says EMI Sekora. He was not kidding. Our gulfwide detachments of ECD were used extensively, not only mines handling mines and captured ordnance, but clearing booby traps left behind on oil platforms and pier areas. They cooperated hand in hand with the Seals and Marines on numerous missions. Cut SHASTA det got eight mines, including one which confirmed the fact that Iraq was mining northern waters that was previously been considered safe. They participated in the search for and rescue two downed pilots. They surveyed suspected mine areas which enabled the Wisconsin and Missouri to get into position for shore bombardment. They escorted the amphibious task force to the beaches of Kuwait. When asked what they desired to be assigned as their next task though, their decision was unanimous, To stay here and return home with the SHASTAY' EOD 57

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