Word: nimitz
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Aerial reconnaissance pictures were taken of likely landing sites in Iran. In November a group of the big Sikorsky choppers was placed aboard the nuclear aircraft carrier Nimitz. On Jan. 8 the President continued the deception, declaring at a press conference that a military rescue "would almost certainly end in failure and almost certainly end in the death of the hostages...
...aloft because of hydraulic troubles and settled down in the bleak desert. Another helicopter crew found the disabled craft, picked up its occupants and completed the five-hour, 500 nautical mile flight to the landing strip. The second laboring chopper discovered a faulty gyro and turned back to the Nimitz, which was standing offshore. Finally, six of the eight RH-53s reached their destination...
...strongly supported by Shimon Peres, who was Israel's Minister of Defense during the successful Entebbe raid in 1976. Peres told TIME: "On an operation like this, one must be satisfied with the minimum of equipment. If you have too much, you blow the whole thing." Nor could the Nimitz dispatch more helicopters to help out when the three were disabled. There had been only eight on board. Had there been more, the force in the desert would have had to wait the whole night for their arrival, an unacceptable risk...
...ships fluctuates as vessels rotate in and out of Camel Station (as American sailors have nicknamed the area), the U.S. has had as many as 27 warships there simultaneously. More crucial than raw figures is the power of the U.S. force. On patrol last week were the super-carriers Nimitz (which recently replaced Kitty Hawk), Midway and Coral Sea, with their full battle groups of guided missile cruisers, destroyers, frigates, oilers and other support vessels. Along with them cruised undisclosed numbers of U.S. submarines. The Navy is keeping its ships at Camel Station at highest readiness status, and there...