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Navy may deploy Atlantic Fleet to avoid Isabel
Edited for brevity and relevance.East Coast residents boarded up homes and businesses and moved boats inland Monday, and government agencies from South Carolina to Massachusetts made preparations as powerful Hurricane Isabel headed for the coast. In Norfolk, Navy officials huddled to decide whether to send Atlantic Fleet ships out to sea to ride out the hurricane. Navy Atlantic Fleet officials were deciding whether to send ships out of port to avoid being battered against piers, said Ted Brown, a spokesman for the Atlantic Fleet based in Norfolk. The fleet - which includes everything from nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers to older steam-driven vessels - needs a minimum of 96 hours notice for a mass sailing. Uh, arenât nuclear-powered vessels also steam-driven vessels? Officials at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware were meeting to decide whether to move the baseâs fleet of giant C-5 cargo aircraft to bases out of the stormâs path. "Because of the size of the planes, itâs got to be bases with very large air fields," said base spokeswoman Lt. Olivia Nelson. Posted by: Dar 2003-09-15 |
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