Navy ship nearby underused --Craft with food, water, doctors needed
orders
ON THE USS BATAAN -- While federal and state emergency planners
scramble to get more military relief to Gulf Coast communities
stricken by Hurricane Katrina, a massive naval goodwill station has
been cruising offshore, underused and waiting for a larger role in the
effort.
The USS Bataan, a 844-foot ship designed to dispatch Marines in
amphibious assaults, has helicopters, doctors, hospital beds, food and
water. It also can make its own water, up to 100,000 gallons a day.
And it just happened to be in the Gulf of Mexico when Katrina came
roaring ashore.
The Bataan rode out the storm and then followed it toward shore,
awaiting relief orders. Helicopter pilots flying from its deck were
some of the first to begin plucking stranded New Orleans residents.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0509040369sep04,1,4144825.story?ctrack=1&cset=true
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