Plan B Forum

American Ships Are Sailing Right into the Heart of Hurricane Matthew to Save Lives
And that is what makes us Americans.

BY ROBERT BATEMAN | OCT 6, 2016

Three American ships just left port: the first on Tuesday, another yesterday, a third today. That port is Norfolk, Virginia, and at the time they started prepping for an immediate no-notice deployment, Norfolk, itself, was in the potential crosshairs of Hurricane Matthew.

These American ships are heading toward (and, if need be, through) a Category 4 Hurricane. They have set a course for Haiti, where they will save human lives. What does Haiti mean to the United States' geo-strategic calculations?

Nothing.

From whatever angle you look at it, Haiti offers the United States zilch as a strategic, or even operational, partner. So why are we committing more resources (a nuclear powered aircraft carrier, our cutting-edge amphib ship, and the USNS Comfort) to that particular nation than any other country in the world, by yuge orders of magnitude? Why do this, risking life, limb, and our national assets?

Because that is what America does. Because no one else can, or will. In the face of death, we ride, or steam, into the storm ourselves. We must. It is who we are. In this reality rests the soul of our nation.

Some, sadly, do not understand this aspect of our identity. They do not understand why we don't first ask, "If we come to your aid, will you pay us back?" They do not get it—how soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines can willingly put their heads down and plow forward, into the very real maelstrom of a Category 4 Hurricane, without an assurance of financial reward for the nation. Those who think like this, these types who only know bottom lines, depreciation, and remuneration, expect business rules to take precedence over the rules of common humanity.

The people who think like this do not understand the meaning of service, and by extension, why we are called servicemen and servicewomen. They do not comprehend what it means to dedicate your life to doing something for others, domestically or abroad.

Apply this as you see fit.

The USA has always done the "heavy lifting" for nigh a century.

I'm watching coverage of Matthew and frankly am sick with worry. Apparently many people haven't evacuated. People in mobile homes. The storm surge is expected to be worse than Sandy, a real 100-year storm.

Praying.

Apparently Rush Limbaugh and Matt Drudge have been trying to give natural selection a little nudge?

Matt Drudge’s Hurricane Theory Takes Conspiracies To A Dangerous Level

Conservative commentator Matt Drudge joined the likes of Rush Limbaugh on Wednesday by floating a conspiracy theory that the government is lying about the intensity of hurricanes to convince people climate change is real.

In a series of posts to Twitter, Drudge, creator of The Drudge Report, said there is “no way of verifying claims” made by the National Hurricane Center, which has warned that Hurricane Matthew could have “potentially disastrous impacts” on the southeast Atlantic Coast.

Drudge suggested the government has a “monopoly on data” and is fudging its forecasts to make an “exaggerated point on climate.”

Just when you think the deplorables can't get any more deplorable, they leap up and out-deplorable themselves. Disgusting.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mat ... 85f2c6bbe3

I'm also interested in this praise of ships heading into a hurricane when some time back there was horrible condemnation of merchant ships doing the same thing. Perhaps it's motive that makes the difference.

Perhaps the type of ships as well; some are much more stable in rough waters/hurricanes than others.

Yeah, like ones that aren't falling apart and beyond retirement age like the El Faro was.

This is standard procedure for major US Navy ports. Many of these ships are safer out in the big waves than they are at anchorage where they may bang into harder stuff like concrete and steel, rarely found out in the big ocean. The humanitarian mission is an afterthought, but makes for great press releases.

snailgate

Way to damn with faint praise there, snail.

And not at all factually correct in this instance. These ships are not in harms way at Norfolk. They are indeed engaged in humanitarian work. And unlike container ships, they have hulls designed to withstand the heaviest of seas, and can strip down for big storms. Container ships, pretty much by definition, cannot.

Finally, these ships do not have to head through the eye of Matthew to get to Haiti - although the weather will be no picnic. El Faro, for several reasons, ended up and likely was destroyed, very near the center of Joaquin.

Guin, please could you resize that image? It's about all I can get on the page and I'd rather see people's posts. Thank you

And I expected you to ask me to delete it ....

No. Why would I? Thought it was funny (and fitting). Except for fitting my screen, that is.

The Navy is arguabley the most conservative branch of the US military. They are most risk averse because they are constantly in harm's way. The ocean is a hazardous place even where there is no human enemy about. I stand by my statement that moving out of Norfolk is standard procedure when there is a serious possibility of heavy storms.

That is not damning with faint praise. I could damn the Norfolk Commodore if they had not done it. A week ago, 3 days ago, the storm Matthew had a significant probability of real damage to the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area. Responsible commanders don't wait and see. They balance the risk and the costs of inaction. Any reports on what has happened to the US military base at Gitmo? Land bases cannot move away from the weather.

We have a long history of intervention in Haiti. Actual national interest can be broadly understood. It is not a bad thing to be known for doing international heavy lifting.

'course the Donald might regard this as another example of how 'we are so weak.' I do not.

snailgate.

NHC changed the forecast by early Wednesday morning to very little chance of the eye making it beyond lower NC, and the models were suggesting that on Tuesday afternoon. Those ships did not leave Norfolk because they were at risk.

That's a better pussy grabs back. Thanks

"Pussy Fights Back" by Claude Balls