USS Bataan leaves to aid Haiti

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) - U.S. officials sent a massive military response to the Haiti earthquake Thursday.

The Norfolk, Va.-based Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Bataan deployed to Haiti along with the Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, Va.-based amphibious dock landing ships USS Fort McHenry and USS Carter Hall.  All three ships left Thursday evening.  The Norfolk-based guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy and Mayport, Fla.-based guided-missile frigate USS Underwood, both already at sea, were also ordered to head to Haiti.

The Bataan will pick-up the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Lejeune, N.C.  The Marines will begin loading equipment onto the Bataan, Carter Hall, and Fort McHenry Friday. 

Thursday morning, two C-2 Greyhounds from Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 40 departed Naval Air Station Norfolk carrying personnel and equipment to support earthquake humanitarian efforts. 

The Navy planes followed MC-130H Combat Talons and a C-130E Hercules from the Air Force's 1st Special Operations Wing out of Hurlburt Field, Fla., which laned in Port-au-Prince, overnight.

Lt. Col. John Dorrian, spokesman for Air Force Special Operations Command, said airmen cleared runways, established 24-hour air traffic control and have weather systems and airport lighting up and running. He said dozens of cargo planes were taking off and landing Thursday, but damage to ramps was slowing efforts to remove cargo from the planes.

The Air Force is working to bring in fork lifts and other heavy equipment to help move cargo.

Also Thursday, more than 100 paratroopers from the 1st Battalion, 73rd Infantry at Fort Bragg, NC, deployed to Haiti. The troops are tasked with finding locations to set up tents and other essentials in preparation for the arrival of another roughly 800 personnel from the division on Friday.

Personnel from Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Va., are scheduled to leave Friday morning for Baltimore where they'll board the Navy hosptial ship USNS Comfort. 

The ship, with its 550 medical personnel and 12 operating rooms, is expected to get underway for the Caribbean island this weekend and arrive in Haiti on Jan. 22. 

A group of 14 Seabee divers from Norfolk-based Underwater Construction Team 1 will also deploy Friday from Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek/Fort Story to Haiti. Their mission will be to inspect waterfront facilities such as piers and docks as part of efforts to help get relief supplies into the earthquake-ravaged nation.

They will deploy along with other Navy divers from Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit 2 and Naval Sea Systems Command, and engineers from Naval Facilities Engineering Command.

The Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-based amphibious dock landing ship USS Gunston Hall will leave Friday as planned - but will head to Haiti instead of its original mission of supporting Africa Partnership Station (APS).

The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, which was ordered to the area on Wednesday, is expected to arrive Friday.

As many as 5,500 U.S. infantry soldiers and Marines will be on the ground or on ships offshore by Monday, a Defense Department official said Thursday.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates called off a planned trip to Australia where he and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were to attend an annual summit.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Gates postponed his trip so he and Clinton "can continue to work on the crisis in Haiti." Obama has directed his administration to provide all aid necessary to assist in relief efforts.

State Department spokesperson P.J. Crowley stressed that while U.S. troops sent to Haiti will be under U.S. command, they're there primarily to support and rebuild the United Nations' 9,000-member peacekeeping mission and to do what it is asked by the Haitians.

"We're not taking over Haiti," he said. "We are helping to stabilize Haiti, we're helping to provide them lifesaving support and materiel and we're going to be there over the long term to help Haiti rebuild."