Showboat!

A Navy ship is sovereign US territory that can move offshore anytime, anywhere and kick the door down if needed, All Hands, magazine of the US Navy, January 1996

GARVIN O'Kelley is a little apprehensive about his trip to Dublin. Not because the US5 John F. Kennedy was built to "kick the door down" of Government Buildings - after all, this is a goodwill mission! Rather, he is concerned about the reaction in Ireland to his name.

Because it's misspelt? No, try again. American slaves took the surname of their master, didn't they? AKI Garvin O'Kelley smiles. He is not only "O'Kelley" from Georgia. Garvin is a southern black.

"So," he muses, "if I pick up the phone book in Dublin, look up a few namesakes, do you think that's worth at least a couple of pints of beer?"

AEC James A. Hill, mess caterer, is a little curious about his trip to Dublin. "Big John", the aircraft carrier's nickname, has about 300 females among its 5,000 crew on board. But that makes no difference. A "sailor is a sailor", and Irish people are going to know that when these yankees come ashore. So what is the ratio of women in Dublin to men? Can you buy plastic shamrocks? Where are the best pubs? How long does it take to get to Cork?

The mammoth aircraft carrier, one of the oldest in the US fleet, has crossed the Atlantic many times, but there is intense curiosity about this particular visit. "Of course you can buy shamrocks," says an officer, before this reporter has a chance to answer. Like alligator teeth in Florida. Made in Korea of course!"

They call it the "boat", and it's a showship. The free green badges for "Dublin, Ireland, 1996" have already been made. The JFK mart sells JFK Tshirts, caps, sweatshirts, mugs, towels, all designed to publicise the achievements of "Big John".

The statistics, like the superlatives, come in a list as long as the craft (see panel) though it is not the leviathan of the US naval fleet.

The biggest warship to visit Dublin Port, "Big John" does not intend to pollute the bay. Its rubbish will be transferred ashore by the Irish agents, Dublin Maritime, while its sewage will be pumped on to Dublin Corporation's Sir Joseph Bazalgette but then dumped at sea.

The trip to Dublin and Portsmouth may be an exercise in US flag waving, but within the US defence forces it is perceived as a boost to low morale, It is just over a month since its chief of naval operations, Admiral Jeremy "Mike" Boorda, shot himself in the heart. Appointed following a series of scandals which had beset the service, Boorda was regarded as a "sailor's skipper", who resented political interference and budget cuts.

On board n Florida, one can walk miles and not see a weapon. One can walk miles without being the least bit aware of whether one is in port or at sea. One can walk miles and almost forget this craft has blood on its bows, as nerve centre for the US attack on Iraq during the Gulf War.

It is a little city with its own daily newspaper, radio and television stations and studio, fire department, library, laundry. The hospital carries out surgery, and there are clinics for sexually transmitted diseases. There are two barber shops (divided by rank), and the mess has automatic bank machines.

The ship is dry: no alcohol. Random drug testing is a fact of life. Up on the flight deck, one can understand why. In the US defence system, the carrier is the hub of the battle group, transporting an air wing of more than 80 planes. The skipper is always an experienced pilot; US naval personnel are trained to fly.

The top deck is run on adrenalin, but steam catapults help. As many as four fighters can be catapulted every minute, screaming from zero to 165 miles an hour. Landings are known as "controlled crashes", when the tailhook of the plane catches one of four arresting cables on the deck.

Given the risk of peace time casualties, access to the deck is severely restricted. "Some people can be aboard this ship for years without ever getting up there," says Personnelman Second Class, Daniel Crowley, whose two great grandmothers were a Fitzgerald and an O'Driscoll from Co Cork. Though he is desk bound, he did take a flight within his first six months at sea. "It's who you know," he smiles. "It's called politics."

The carrier is one of only two conventionally powered craft, and burns 3,000 gallons of fuel an hour at cruising speed. Its sisters are nuclear powered. It might have been decommissioned some time ago, were it not for its name.

The name has prevented what some of its crew regard as a tin can and the Don Quixote of the US Navy ("you mean, Irish people are signing up to a lottery to come and see this?") from being turned into razor blades. Personnelman Crowley is not so cynical. "Well, I'm extremely patriotic," he says. "You can get frustrated with daily life, the food, we all miss our families, but you have to look at the big picture. If there was a crisis, we'd been running the world. It's an awesome thing

It also ensures that chief journalist Randy Gentry is busy. He is one of half a dozen staff attached to the carrier's, public affairs office (PAO). The PAO produces the Kennedy Dispatch, monitors news, makes radio and TV broad casts. It looks after visiting journalists. Information is dispensed on a "need to know" basis. Even in peace time, public relations can be a useful weapon of war.

Boxes of press material cite the ship's record, and its many decorations since it was named after the 35th president of the United States. It supported Atlantic Fleet efforts during the growing crisis in Lebanon in 1983. On January 4th, 1989, during "routine" operations in the Mediterranean, two of its F-14 aircraft shot down two Libyan MIG-23 jets which were reported to be approaching the battle group in a "hostile" manner.

It was in September 1990 that it became the flagship of the Commander, Red Sea Battle Force, and its aircraft initiated Operation Desert Storm with attacks on Iraq in January, 1991. The ship launched 114 strikes and 2,895 sorties, with the aircrews flying 11,263 combat hours and delivering more than 3.5 million pounds of "ordnance" on Iraqi towns and cities. No figure is mentioned for the estimated number of deaths.

Data processing technician chief (DPC) Robin Forget from Maryland is one of the 300 women on board trained to kill. Well, defend, anyway, now that the US Congress has approved of women in combat. She has been 14 years in the US Navy, but just four months at sea.

Most of the women have been on the carrier for less than a year, following a refit in dry dock in, Philadlephia. She is surprised to hear that the first two women have only recently been enlisted in Ireland's Naval Service. So what difficulties has" she encountered?

None that would not concern anyone going to sea for the first time," she says. "Men miss their families. Quite a few of the women have grown up kids too. Phone bills are high. And you are never really off duty, even when you are asleep."

The "men women thing" was sorted out long ago, she believes. There is little apparent tension. The ship's public affairs office says the JFK's "police force", the Marine Corps, has had no reports of serious harassment to date.

SITTING in a Kennedy rocking chair in his in port cabin, the skipper, Captain Gerald: Hoewing, concurs. Women have adapted, with no special treatment. "I don't know the cost of the refit, but the benefit has been privacy for everyone, he says. Can he see a female skipper in his lifetime? Well, women are already flying aircraft, he points out.

His in port cabin was reputedly designed by a woman, the late Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. The paneling and teak decking required a special act of the US Congress permitting use of combustible wood. On the coffee table, books signed by her daughter, Caroline, have been given to the ship by the Kennedy Library. The Kennedy crest, with Ormonde and Fitzgerald colours, is reflected in the ship's seal.

This visit to Ireland is a "great honour", he says. He admits to being one of a handful aware of another Irish link. The father of the US Navy was a Wexfordman. "Yes, it's true, Commodore John Barry is not a household name.

He is a genial man, and a popular skipper, and his smile runs from ear to ear. Dublin will be one of his last trips, and he is bringing his wife and daughter. "I hope my wife gets some time to shop.

Asked the obvious question, Captain Hoewing states that there will be no nuclear weapons on board in Irish waters. Previously, the US defence department's standard response was: "We neither confirm nor deny." The carrier will be armed, however. It must be able to respond to an alert anytime, anywhere.

He was "not aware" of any planned protests during the Irish visit. The Socialist Workers' Party and the Coalition Against the Warship Visit (CAWV) are expected to hold demonstrations at most of the sponsored shore events. "This country [the US] is based on the rights of people to express themselves," Captain Hoewing responds. "We area not trying to have any impact on Irish neutrality. We respect that 100 per cent.

Back on the ship, there is some puzzlement among the crew. "Ireland neutral? What's with all these thousands buying up the Lottery?" says one officer.

"And what's the size of this demo?" quips his friend. "Nothing that an F-18 can't sort out."

A Gulf War veteran and former mechanic in Mayport finds it particularly perplexing. He can appreciate the sentiments, given Ireland's position on the map. "Yeah, the US spends far too much on armaments anyway," he says. "But tell me one thing. Is the IRA still hot?"