Local Navy ships ordered to move

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY/AP) - All U.S. Navy ships in the Hampton Roads area are preparing to get underway, to move out of the path of Hurricane Sandy.

The track of the storm shows it traveling up the East Coast.

Adm. Bill Gortney, U.S. Fleet Forces (USFF) Commander, directed the ships to sortie starting Friday afternoon.

USS Ashland (LSD 48) and USS Carter Hall (LSD 50) will sortie from Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story in Virginia Beach.

The following ships will sortie from Naval Station Norfolk: USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), USS Bataan (LHD 5), USS San Antonio (LPD 17), USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19), USS Ashland (LSD 48), USS Carter Hall (LSD 50), USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55), USS Monterey (CG 61), USS Anzio (CG 68), USS Barry (DDG 52), USS Gonzales (DDG 66), USS Mahan (DDG 72), USS Bulkeley (DDG 84), USS Mason (DDG 87), USS Bainbridge (DDG 96), USS Gravely (DDG 107), USS Ross (DDG 71), USS Nicholas (FFG 47), USNS Patuxent (T-AO 201), USNS Medgar Evers (T-AKE 13), USNS William McClean (T-AKE 12).

USS Wasp (LHD 1), USS Taylor (FFG 50) and USNS Kanawha (T-AO 196) are already underway in the USFF area of responsibility.

The Navy orders a sortie during potentially extreme weather conditions to keep the ships and piers safe during high winds and seas.

Navy bases in Virginia are also taking precautionary measures.

Commander Navy Installations Command ordered all installations in the Hampton Roads area to set Tropical Cyclone Condition Three.

Tropical Cyclone Condition Three means destructive winds of greater than 50 knots associated with a tropical system, are expected within 48 hours.

The order applies to bases such as Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach as well as Naval Station Norfolk, the world's largest naval installation.