USS Nimitz, the world’s largest nuclear-powered aircraft career, docked near Chennai port on Monday morning on what an American naval officer called a “friendship visit to foster military-military relations” even as Left parties geared up for a protest outside the Port Trust.
Commodore Philip Vanhaltern of the Indian Navy told Deccan Herald that “Nimitz docked at 6 am while a destroyer accompanying it, USS Pinckney, berthed around 9 am.”
He said Indian naval ship INS Savitri with a group of nuclear scientists on board was already in place to periodically monitor the air and water in view of fears of radiation hazards voiced by environmentalists.
The monitoring would be done till Nimitz leaves on July 5, he said.
Left protests
The visit of Nimitz, powered by two nuclear plants and having over 65 fighter jets onboard, has led to protests not only from environmental groups but also from the two communist parties, besides the AIADMK and the MDMK. Top officials onboard Nimitz told a group of visiting reporters on Sunday that the safety record of the 32-year-old ship was outstanding.
Commanding Officer Captain Michael C Manazir told reporters that ideally he would have liked to come into the Chennai port, but it was not big enough to take a ship of the size of the Nimitz, 1092 feet long and 252 feet wide.
Asked about India conducting its own radiation surveys in the vicinity of the aircraft carrier, Rear Admiral John Terrance Blake, commander of the Carrier Strike Group II, said, “Anybody can test any water or any air outside the force protection zone. I would maintain a perimeter around the ship. I would make sure there would be no threat… Therefore anyone closing in on my ship, I will have to look at from a force protection perspective. Not as a threat.”
Capt Manazir said there was no impact on the morale of the crew because of the protests by some political parties.
“The morale of the crew is very, very high.”
Capt Manazir said the crew and officers brought their entire families on board when they were back home. “We would not bring our families on board if there was any safety concern… There is no danger to the public or the crew… We do not discharge any radioactive waste into the environment. We are very, very careful.”
Soon after the ship berthed off the port, groups of sailors came out in boats to the city to do community work. One group cleared the garbage in a city college while another visited an orphanage under the full glare of 24-hour news channel television cameras.
