Navy orders 5,000 evacuated ahead of Irma
As Hurricane Irma closes in on Florida as a category 5 storm, the Navy has ordered the evacuation of more than 5,000 military active duty, civilians, contractors and families based at Naval Air Station Key West according to CBS News;
The Commander of the US Navy Region Southeast ordered the “mandatory evacuation of non-essential personnel and dependents from NAS Key West to safe haven within 300 miles of Atlanta, Georgia,” according to Navy spokesman Bill Dougherty.
Navy officials tell CNN that aircraft, including fixed-wing planes and helicopters will be moving inland from Jacksonville and Mayport, Florida.
Submarines are preparing to evacuate or have been evacuated from Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in Georgia, according to several Navy officials. In the coming days, other Navy installations may be ordered to evacuate.
Dougherty said Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will shelter in place for the storm as it passes north of Cuba.
Category: Navy
I plan(ned) to be at the RV park at NAS Key West and the one at Mayport FL in the coming weeks. It seems I need a Plan B or C.
Head to the Ozarks. It seems to be about the only area that’s not on fire, underwater, or being targeted by a hurrican.
There ARE plenty of pleasant places to camp in the Springfield/Branson area this time of year, and don’t forget the Mountain Springs Trout Farm on County Road “O” off of US 160 coming out of Springfield!
I do hope that our people at Gitmo will be okay.
Irma is supposed to have two proposed routes, one straight up Florida’s thumb, and the other up the US eastern shore. I wonder if the Potomac basin would get flooded.
If it will drive the rats out of Washington DC, I am good with that.
Those aren’t rats, those are tailless mokeys, you know from the song, “The monkeys have no tails in Sambowanga” “They were bitten off by whales!” lol
There are 5,000 people at NAS Key West? I was on Key West several years ago and didnt even see the NAS.
I guess my visit to the National Park in the Dry Tortugas is off
The NAS isn’t on Key West, its on Rockland (I think). The field is pretty long, bigger than Key West International.
The field at NAS Key West is called Boca Chica… Me likey.
I should do research before I type crap… NAS Key West is on Boca Chica Key.
The Navy put a 10,000 foot runway there, where they planning to land the space shuttle?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Air_Station_Key_West
Truman Annex has one of the best beaches on Key West and is one block from Duval Street. Sweet gig. Loved that TDY.
Lucky! Anyone that gets paid to be there has won the cosmic lottery.
I will never get my eyeballs clean from what I’ve seen on Duval Street.
I was drinking my breakfast in Captain Tony’s when my 1SG called and told me I’d been selected for SFC.
The biggest lesson I learned from Key West is that the women who go to topless bars are the women who should NOT go to topless bars.
When we deployed to Afghanistan, we had to fill out paperwork that asked if we were wounded, what military installation would we like to be rehabilitated at. Most people put bases that were closest to their homes, but my top two picks were Key West NAS and Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage.
For long time, many commercial or military airport constructed in key areas had to have a 10,000 minimum runway so they could be used as an alternate military landing sites. Supposedly many interstates have long stretches similarly designated where no power lines, trees, or billboards were allowed close to the road for the same reason. Cold War was an interesting time.
BGR was always a shuttle alternate due to the more than two mile runway.
I remember being told that Hunter Army Air Field (HAAF) was also an alternate landing site for the Shuttle, huge runway.
As others have said, the NAS is on Boca. There is a big housing area for the NAS with Commissary and BX on Key West on the west side of the island. That’s where the huge RV park is…over 300 rigs in the winter. There is also a smaller installation, Trumbo, adjacent to the CG station right in town.
Question for the Silent Service types: How deep does a sub have to go before it’s unaffected by surface action during a storm? This is a serious question.
I asked my Bubblehead bud that question yesterday. I think he said 400′ but can’t find it. Would guess it varies by storm strength too. He said periscope depth really sucked in a storm.
Thanks.
Yup. Submarines have a very small moment of righting (height of center of gravity above hull) and the round hull doesn’t help.
And the sail acts like, well, a sail if not sailing into the storm.
Depends on the storm. Most cases you don’t feel a whole lot below 150′, but I remember one time we were doing 10-15 degree rolls under a typhoon.
OOD decides to go to PD. We get to 150′, must have been doing 40-45 degree rolls. My LPO and I were sitting behind Maneuvering, alternately looking down at each other.
CO fell (literally, so I heard later) and said screw going to PD until we were clear of storm.
Pucker Factor 9000.
SEA: do Boomers and Attack react differently to storms?
Well, Tridents being bigger, aren’t affected as much as a fast boat displacing 40 percent of what a T-hull does.
But neither is much fun in Sea State 8.
Thanks. You guys are nuts. I couldn’t do what you gents did, but I’m fascinated by it. About the only book I remember reading in my youth was Run Silent, Run Deep, and the one about/by Rickover. But when nut crunching time came I went with the Green Machine. Jumping out of planes seemed less scary.
All the way…
Sub pay + sea pay + pro pay >>> jump pay.
That always seemed to help.
True Dat!
The old story was that a farmer went to the recruiting station and they offered him submarines… when he turned it down they suggested airborne. His response was “look here – I don’t want to be any higher ‘n corn or lower than potatoes.” Words to live by.
I’ll add my thanks to you Silent Service guys. I went Army because I figured I could dig a foxhole a helluva lot quicker than I could shit an island.
HA!
Hell, I went Navy because I prefer to go camping on my own terms.
Neptune has a vote in that too. For an example see Crusoe, Robinson. (smile)
The 11 AM official track shows Irma passing over my house as a Cat 3.
Oh yeah.
Per the mid-day news in my AO, the storm track appears to be just slightly north of PR and Irma may turn right at Florida, head north along the coast. The mid-day weatherman said Irma was a Cat 5, around 12:30PM EDT.
that sucks… I think Harvey was only a tropical storm when it camped out over Houston and dumped 40+ inches of rain on us.