Liberty Port vs. Home Port
Navy NewsStand has two stories about submarines pulling into port last Friday-- USS Columbia (SSN 771) returning home to Pearl Harbor after a WestPac, and USS Norfolk (SSN 714) pulling into Jebel Ali, UAE. The sub returning home to Pearl got a visit from Mrs. Hawaii... the boat in Jebel Ali gets to experience the "pleasures" of The Sandbox (photo from this site):
When I was in the Gulf in 2000 (aboard USS John C. Stennis) the subs with our Battle Group actually got to pull straight into Dubai while the carrier and cruisers got stuck in Jebel Ali. I'm assuming that having the subs go to Jebel Ali (about a 40 minute taxi ride from Dubai) now is for force protection more than anything else.
Although any Sailor will tell you that any liberty port is a good port, and the UAE is better than Bahrain, I'm sure the men of USS Norfolk would much rather be in the same situation as the Columbia Sailors. Here's to their safe return home.
posted by Bubblehead at 11:32 PM
4 Comments:
Our first stop in '98 (also with Stennis, by the way) was in Dubai. Our second stop was in Jebel Ali, but that was because Simon Lake (AS 33) had been brought around from La Madd so we could do our mid-deployment repairs. A few weeks after that, we were on our way into Dubai for our second visit when we were turned around due to a sudden increase in threat level. When we finally got another chance to pull in, it was in Jebel Ali and we were restricted to the immediate area of the boat for the first day or two.
When I went back in '01 the only port calls we got in the Gulf were in Bahrain.
RM1(SS) (ret)
3/22/2006 6:02 AM
Not having alcohol onna beach is a little like not being onna beach at all. Still. . . . :)
3/22/2006 1:42 PM
Actually, The Sandbox did have beer... the UAE is kinda like Bahrain, it's where the Saudi's go to party.
3/22/2006 11:34 PM
Thanks for the info, Bubblehead. Beer ain't so bad. :) Still, prolly ain't got shore power, neither. What's more, even if there was shore power, all the beer would be gone before I'd be off the boat. :) :)
3/23/2006 2:58 AM
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