CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM The missile destroyer USS O'Kane arrived in Pearl Harbor yesterday after a six-month deployment on a peacekeeping mission. Among the many sailors and families being reunited were Joshua and Nong Beaton, with their son Joshua.

USS O’Kane
returns to Pearl

The missile destroyer helped
enforce U.N. sanctions against Iraq

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By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.com

With banners waving and a loudspeaker blaring "Proud to Be an American," one of America's newest warships, the USS O'Kane, returned home yesterday from its maiden voyage, which included support of the America's fight against terrorism.

The captain, Cmdr. Taylor Skardon, said when the 504-foot O'Kane left Honolulu on Aug. 1 for a routine six-month Western Pacific deployment, America was a different place.

"We trained for the basic duties we expected to in the (Persian) Gulf," said Skardon minutes after the vessel tied up. "It was supposed to have been pretty routine."

But that all changed after the O'Kane, a guided-missile destroyer, rounded the southern tip of India on Sept. 11 as a member of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson battle group.

"We don't have (satellite) television, and we only had one radio that was tuned to the Armed Forces network," he added.

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM The USS O'Kane returned home yesterday after taking part in America's fight against terrorism. Linden Codling greeted her husband, Jeremy, who has been away since August.

As details of the terrorist attack on the first tower of the World Trade Center in New York City unfolded, Skardon said he thought that "it was an accident." But then there were reports of the second attack on another tower and finally the jetliner crashing into the Pentagon.

Instead of continuing into the Persian Gulf, the Vinson battle group remained in the Arabian Sea to prepare for its new mission. On Oct. 7 the Carl Vinson launched the first wave of jetfighters into Afghanistan while other warships launched Tomahawk missiles.

The O'Kane with its crew of 330 sailors, including 68 women, became part of a multinational task force that spent two months enforcing the United Nation's sanctions against Iraq. Over a two-month period, the O'Kane crew boarded more than 100 merchant ships and captured several Iraqi smugglers.

"Every ship we boarded," Skardon said, "we viewed as a suspected terrorist."

The O'Kane returned to the Northern Arabian Sea, where it spent a month off Pakistan in support of Marines on ships and at Kandahar, Afghanistan.

After 172 days the O'Kane returned, traveling more than 41,000 miles. Christmas Day was spent in the Indian Ocean. New Year's Day dawned in Darwin, Australia.

Three sailors became fathers during the deployment. The wives of Lt. John Lugo, Ensign Jerry Martorello and Petty Officer Joshua Beaton were given the privilege of being the first to greet their husbands after the O'Kane docked.

Nancy Skardon -- with Elizabeth, 10, Frances, 9, and Padgett, 7-- watched on shore at Pearl Harbor's Nevada landing just after 9 a.m. as the O'Kane entered the channel.

"They all made a list of what they want Daddy to do with them," Nancy Skardon said.

Also, among the group of wives, friends and husbands of the crew was Cheryl Orneallas with her twin brother, Russell Inouye; and her sister-in-law Candace Kurisu, hoping to catch a glimpse of her husband, Petty Officer Joseph Orneallas, as he stood at attention on the ship's deck.

"We're newlyweds," said Orneallas, a member of Kaiser High School's class of 1976, "and we missed celebrating our first wedding anniversary on Dec. 12. We even missed my birthday since it happened after Aug. 1 when he left."

Cmdr. Skardon said he was surprised how the homecoming affected him. "Seeing my wife and my three daughters on the shore, it suddenly just hits you."

With nearly 80 percent of his crew on their first overseas deployment, Skardon said, "It was a joy to watch this team come together."