2000 AOTOS awards recognize MSC mariners
Presented by the United Seaman's Service, the AOTOS Honored
Seafarer Awards recognize "the heroism of American seafarers who have risked their lives to save others and the outstanding seamanship of officers and crews of vessels participating in rescue operations."
This year two Military Sealift Command crews are receiving the Mariner's Plaque award for rescues - USNS Gordon and USNS San Jose. USNS Gordon, a prepositioning ship in the Persian Gulf at the time of the rescue last March, was at anchor when crew members spotted two fishermen clinging to a sinking 12-foot fishing boat.
Gordon quickly launched its 16-foot rigid-hull inflatable boat in the choppy water and high winds to rescue the stranded United Arab Emirates fishermen. The terrified fishermen, unable to communicate in English, were gently coaxed aboard by Gordon crew members.
USNS San Jose was enroute to Okinawa, Japan, last September when it received a distress signal from Panamanian ship Eastern Hope.
Eastern Hope was taking on water and listing 30 degrees, and its crew abandoned ship in two lifeboats. San Jose's Master, Capt. Dan O'Brien, changed course and arrived at the sinking Eastern Hope in two hours.
Japanese-flagged MV Sekiyo was on scene, attempting unsuccessfully to rescue crew members from one of the lifeboats. Wind and sea conditions prevented the exhausted crewmembers from transferring out of the lifeboats, so San Jose launched its embarked helicopter from Combat Support Squadron Five, Detachment Four, to recover the crew from their rafts.
All eighteen Eastern Hope crewmembers were rescued by helicopter and transferred aboard San Jose back to Okinawa. The Japanese Maritime Safety Headquarters praised the San Jose crew for "noble seamanship and high rescue skill in the rough sea."
Military Sealift Command is the ocean transportation provider for the Department of Defense. The command, part of the U.S. Navy, operates more than 110 active ships around the world.
Ship missions vary from the transport and afloat prepositioning of defense cargo; to underway replenishment and other direct support to Navy ships at sea; to at-sea data collection for the U.S. military and other U.S. government agencies. (FROM MILITARY SEALIFT COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS).
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