Navy sending USS Chosin to Arabian Sea

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

The Pearl Harbor-based guided missile cruiser USS Chosin will join the Nimitz aircraft carrier battle group in the Arabian Sea, the Navy said yesterday.

The Nimitz departs Monday from San Diego and will join several aircraft carriers already in the region.

The 28-year-old flattop, with about 5,500 sailors, will bring about 70 F/A-18 jets and support aircraft to a still-growing U.S. sea, air and land contingent.

Navy officials said the Chosin, with a crew of about 400, will deploy sometime after the Nimitz, but no date was given yesterday. The ship is armed with anti-submarine rockets, Tomahawk cruise missiles and torpedoes.

The Chosin is at least the fourth Pearl-based surface ship ordered to the Persian Gulf region. The destroyer Paul Hamilton and frigate Reuben James have been on duty with the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln.

The battle group has been on deployment since July. Although some reports said the Nimitz would relieve the Lincoln, the Navy yesterday made it clear that the Lincoln — with 12 of the Navy's new F/A-18E Super Hornet long-range strike fighters — has not received orders to return home.

The guided missile destroyer USS O'Kane left Pearl Harbor on Jan. 17 for the Persian Gulf region.

Six Hawai'i-based attack subs, including the Honolulu, Chicago, Cheyenne, Los Angeles, Key West and Columbia, are operating in the western Pacific or the Gulf region, a Pacific Fleet submarine force official said.

The Coast Guard cutter Walnut, also based out of Honolulu, left for Guam on Jan. 18, and also has been ordered to the Middle East.

Two other battle groups are in the Persian Gulf region: the USS Constellation and USS Kitty Hawk.

The carriers USS Harry Truman and USS Theodore Roosevelt are in the Mediterranean.