Here Comes Ike

Interesting development at sea.

Hurricane Ike's winds have thwarted a rescue attempt for the crew of a freighter stranded in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Coast Guard says that the five Coast Guard and Air Force aircraft, hauling rescue swimmers, were forced to land in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Petty Officer Tom Atkeson tells The Associated Press that the planes encountered winds of 80 knots or about 92 miles-per-hour when they reached the freighter. At that point, the ship was adrift about 120 miles southeast of Galveston, Texas.

More details as of 2pm CDT.

A Coast Guard jet has flown over the vessel, the 584-foot-long coke carrier Antalina, and reported the ship in good shape, pointed into the wind as is desirable and the crew okay as of 2 p.m. CDT (1400 GMT), a spokesman said.

I have been unable to locate a picture of the vessel. Just guessing, I'd estimate the ship to be around 30,000 dwts, but have not seen any reporting regarding the load of the ship, only that it left Houston to escape the storm.

Just in case you are wondering, the USS Bataan (LHD 5) returned to Norfolk from its hurricane exercise. I get the impression NORTHCOM doesn't see a role for naval vessels in response to Ike. I suspect the Navy is moving aviation assets towards the area, but we'll have to wait for the briefings for details.

With the potential necessity to rescue 37,000 and a hurricane about to hit one of the most important ports in the US, I find the lack of naval ships responding a bit curious.