Is the Gulf of Mexico Protected?

Hurricane Katrina and the US Navy Question.

This thought occurred to me over the past weekend post storm.

I realize that the US Navy has many ship abroad fighting the WOT.

Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa and Asia all in support of our troops abroad fighting many battles in many theaters.

Where was the US Navy positioned in the Gulf of Mexico pre and post Katrina?

Here is my concern. It appears that the US Navy had to bring in ships from the East coast to support the relief effort, and it took a few days for the ships to cruise to the rescue.

Ok, I understand that Navy ships set out to sea to avoid storms like Katrina, but it appears that we, (the US) had no real Navy presence in the Gulf of Mexico prior to the storm.

I realize we had Coast Guard cruisers in the Gulf, but it took days to get any real Navy muscle on the seen.

Is the Gulf of Mexico unprotected ?

Are there no Aircraft carriers and their support ships stationed in the Gulf?

Am I missing something here, If we had an Aircraft carrier battle group stationed somewhere in the gulf, the Navy would have placed them off the coast for support directly after the storm.

If this is the case it seems that our Gulf Coast could be an easy target for something far worse than Katrina.

Uhhhh...

Aircraft carrier joins Katrina relief operations - US military
Forbes - Sep 5, 2005
WASHINGTON (AFX) - An aircraft carrier off the US Gulf Coast joined hurricane relief operations today as ground troops continued pouring into the region stricken by Hurricane Katrina, the military said

'USS Harry S Truman is now stationed off Biloxi, Mississippi to assist with disaster recovery,' the command said.



Truman Prepares to Provide Water to US Gulf Coast
Navy News Stand (press release) - Sep 3, 2005

Navy sending USS Harry Truman from Norfolk to Gulf Coast
WSLS.com, VA - Sep 1, 2005

Navy loads aircraft carrier with hurricane relief supplies
WAVY-TV, VA - Sep 1, 2005

More Navy ships headed to the Gulf Coast
Centre Daily Times, PA - Sep 1, 2005

Don't know what news you tune into but it's been all over the place here.
news.google.com...

[edit on 7-9-2005 by Regenmacher]

Originally posted by Regenmacher

Don't know what news you tune into but it's been all over the place here.
news.google.com...

But the original question was, do we have any Navy Ships positioned full time in the Gulf of Mexico?

Since those articles say this ship or that ship is headed to the Gulf to help I'm guessing no, but really I don't know.

Thank you Vasilis Azoth !

That's my question, is the majority of the US Naval Fleet stationed on both coasts and not in the Gulf.

It seemed the arrival time for the Navy's big ships was days and not hours.

Our country has the ability to use the military to help in time of natural disasters, and the Navy is a big part of the picture, it just seemed odd that the big ships had to come from the East Coast and not some place in the Gulf?

Honestly, it seem to me that our Navy is spread thin across the globe with more emphisis on the Pacific than the Atlantic. As it is unlikely that a foreign power would lauch an invasion without some kind of warning(ie increased tension with said nation) I guess we really don't have to protect our coastline. But this event shows that maybe we do need to keep more military closer to home(and not just the Navy).

Protected from what, the Mexican Navy? Never saw one, senor. Protected from the spew, I think not.


The USS Bataan has been there since last week BUT were never given orders to do anything! They sat there with hospital beds and helos ready to help.

Now isn't that a fine kettle of fish?

The Smoking Gun: Navy Ship sat unused, awaiting Bush’s orders

Aww... consider the source.

There's numerous naval bases in the Gulf of Mexico.

Also the Coast Guard is extemely active in the Gulf.

Gulf of Mexico Exercises (GOMEX) hapens every 3 months

There's dozens of ships and subs in the gulf, but they don't remain in port when a hurricane is coming.

Pascagoula Naval Station

* Shore Intermediate Maintenance Activity, Pascagoula
* Destroyer Squadron 6
* USCG Station Pascagoula
* USS Thomas S. Gates (CG-51)
* USS John L. Hall (FFG-32)
* USS Stephen W. Groves (FFG-29)

List of U.S. Navy Ships
Alphabetically with their Homeports
www.chinfo.navy.mil...

Start googling you probably find 100's not to mention all the naval air stations that patrol the region.

WOD is big business in the GULF

[edit on 7-9-2005 by Regenmacher]