I just saw a segment on Fox News about the Iwo Jima being used as a base to fly rescue missions to southwest Louisiana.  Shepard Smith said that within a few hours after the hurricane the helicopters were flying into the troubled areas.

How did the ship withstand the high seas driven by the hurricane?  Is a hurricane even dangerous for a ship the size of the Iwo Jima? It had to be a wild ride for the crew!

They moved to a position off the coast of Florida. They didn't have much room, but you can manuever in the Gulf of Mexico to an extent.

It is my understanding that the BATAAN was with the IWO JIMA and several other ships at the time.

last i heard, it was those kinds of ships implimented by the US govt to create those hurricanes



i'm sure that modern US naval vessels are rated (to a certain extent) for high seas

h/w, a Cat 5 would have been pretty rough on ANY ship

hell typhoons in '44 took out some WWII destroyers of TF (44?) under spruance in the pacific, but no heavy carriers were sunk

But IIRC most of the ships lost during the '44 typhoon were due to the smaller ships being low on fuel and not having the proper ballast to "ride" out the storm.  

The ships that did make it to port pumped in sea water to the fuel tanks for the ballast.  

Yeah it made a mess of the tanks but they made it one piece.

Like I said this is IIRC from reading a long time ago.

Quoted: last i heard, it was those kinds of ships implimented by the US govt to create those hurricanes i'm sure that modern US naval vessels are rated (to a certain extent) for high seas h/w, a Cat 5 would have been pretty rough on ANY ship hell typhoons in '44 took out some WWII destroyers of TF (44?) under spruance in the pacific, but no heavy carriers were sunk

Yea, they had them going in circles real fast, makes a hurricane every time.

The seas off the coast here (NW FL) were only 10-15 feet.

I've been on the USS Saratoga in 50' seas in the North Sea during wintertime. It really wasn't that bad. I would have hated to be on one of the frigates that were in our battlegroup there though. Watching them in those seas resembled watching a submarine that couldn't make up its mind if it wanted to surface or submerge.

They had plenty of room and plenty of time for a successful evasion.  The optimum way is to run west, and then run down off the west side until  you get about southwest of the storm and then turn and run southeast.   They had a decent option in that they were far enough north that they could sty north and then run east and they could have run sout down the eastern edge.  Hurricanes (and other northern hemisphere tropical storms) almost always go west, bend to the north and then northeast,  some stay going mostly to the west, although some slow and do curlicues as they fall apart, they almost never make any kind of  move to the south (unless at the end).

The winds on  the northeast hemisphere tend to be the strongest, Storm winds speed + speed of storm  and those to the southwest the weakest, Storm winds speed - speed of storm.  That can be a 20 to 40 knot difference.

Here's a site that gives a good basic history by year.

weather.unisys.com/hurricane/atlantic/

Although larger ships can stand up to storms better than smaller ships, you really can't build a ship that will beat all storms.  And getting the fuck out of the way is always the best choice.  I was at the MSC Far East HQ for Operation Desert Shield/Storm (Provide Comfort, Sea Angel and Fiery Vigil - Refugee support, humanitarian relief to Bangladesh after it got flushed by a typhoon and the evacuation of Subic and Clark and resupply after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo) from late Augst 1990 to July 1991 and we had at least one active northern hemisphere in our area of operations the entire time, our favorite evasion was to get up north of and close to Okinawa and then going around the other side and when you are watching storm tracks and data and one of the "ships" you are worried about is a tug and barge combination with a top speed of about 10 kts you get really damn worried..

Hong Kong harbor is supposed to be a pretty good typhoon haven and is most of the times, but if you want to hear some scary sea stories talk to some of the Pac Flt guys who were down on the gun line and ran up there to evade  some storms during the Vietnam era and the damn storms came right over the top of them.

Quoted: They had plenty of room and plenty of time for a successful evasion.  The optimum way is to run west, and then run down off the west side until  you get about southwest of the storm and then turn and run southeast.   They had a decent option in that they were far enough north that they could sty north and then run east and they could have run sout down the eastern edge.  Hurricanes (and other northern hemisphere tropical storms) almost always go west, bend to the north and then northeast,  some stay going mostly to the west, although some slow and do curlicues as they fall apart, they almost never make any kind of  move to the south (unless at the end).

That may be the optimum path, but rarely is that path available for East Coast ships.

Besides, according to Navy News they headed to a point off the coast of Florida.

edited b/c while I read "Rita," I was thinking "Katrina."

Iwo's a good ship, spent 8 months on her in 2003.

Quoted: How did the ship withstand the high seas driven by the hurricane?  Is a hurricane even dangerous for a ship the size of the Iwo Jima? It had to be a wild ride for the crew!

Easy, they move everything inside and they just bob in the water for a few hours. As long as a fire doesn't break out and the generators are running, being out at sea during a hurricane is the best place to be for a ship that size.

Our SBX-1 rode it out in the SW part of the GOM.

SBX-1 is a modified Moss D-50 oil rig, essentially the same basic vehicle as the Sea Launch platform except with a big radar instead of a launch pad.

Merlin

Quoted: How did the ship withstand the high seas driven by the hurricane?  Is a hurricane even dangerous for a ship the size of the Iwo Jima? It had to be a wild ride for the crew!

Nah!  It happens all the time.  If they cannot maneuver around it they just point the bow into the wind and keep driving.

My dad told me stories of his cruises from Norfolk to Scotland back in the 1950’s.  60 foot waves for 2 days straight didn’t make for comfortable sailing.