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Frigate intercepts
drug smugglers
The Pearl Harbor warship Crommelin
stops U.S.-bound narcotics shipments
In drug interdiction duty off South America, the Pearl Harbor-based USS Crommelin has intercepted at least 6.5 tons of cocaine, resulting in the arrest of 20 suspects.
"To a person in my crew," said Cmdr. Donald Hodge, the Crommelin's skipper, "they are excited and thrilled to take cocaine off the streets of America where it ultimately goes ... The men and women here on the Crommelin feel this is a vital job to take the bite out of the traffic going north."
The 455-foot guided-missile frigate has been patrolling the waters of the Eastern Pacific since leaving Pearl Harbor on May 12 on a six-month deployment.
Hodge said in a telephone interview from Peru the latest drug bust occurred on June 29 in waters southwest of Costa Rica, close to Panama.
Working with the cruiser USS Ticonderoga, home-ported in Pascagoula Naval Station in Mississippi, the Crommelin "more or less spooked" a drug ferrying speed boat whose crew "dumped most of the cargo and tried to flee," Hodge said.
Hodge said the 567-foot Ticonderoga recovered about 50 bales of illegal narcotics, estimated to weigh nearly two tons, while U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment 102 assigned to his vessel picked up the five suspected smugglers.
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Other Crommelin-related drug cases:
>> Earlier in the month, and again working with the Ticonderoga, the Crommelin recovered a total of 72 cocaine bales weighing more than 50 pounds each and worth a total estimated street value of $36 million.
>> In another drug raid on June 22, a SH-60B helicopter from the Ticonderoga detected a drug-ferrying speedboat that conducted a series of high-speed maneuvers to elude the helicopter. Two helicopters from the Crommelin were launched to intercept the speed boat.
Using the Crommelin as a blocker, the Ticonderoga maneuvered ahead of the speedboat to stop the drug runners. Helicopter crews using its forward looking infrared camera documented the smugglers throwing their illegal cargo overboard, which was recovered by the Ticonderoga.
Coast Guard law enforcement officers from the Crommelin apprehended five smugglers from the speed boat.
The Ticonderoga recovered eight bales of cocaine and turned them over to Crommelin. The Ticonderoga then departed and the Crommelin remained on station to search for more contraband.
>> Since reporting on station in the Eastern Pacific on May 20, Crommelin disrupted four other narcotics smuggling operations and detained 10 suspected drug smugglers.
>> During another six-month deployment, which ended in April 2003, Crommelin confiscated more than three tons of illegal narcotics. One of the busts involved a high-speed, long-distance chase with what the Navy describes as a "go-fast, a high-speed vessel specifically built to transport narcotics. As the chase continued, the go-fast crew began jettisoning their cargo in order to gain speed and outmaneuver the Crommelin. Eventually, the go-fast crew beached the boat and were apprehended by local authorities."
Crommelin returned to the position where a helicopter had located the contraband. Crommelin's deck crew launched the small boats and recovered 79 bales of cocaine with an estimated street value of more than $42 million.
Hodge assumed command of Crommelin and its crew of 210 sailors and officers in October.
Recently, the 4,100-ton warship, which was commissioned in 1983, participated in naval war games similar to the current Rim of the Pacific, or RIMPAC, exercise being held in Hawaii waters with several South American countries.
After completing its participation in several multinational naval exercises, Crommelin will return to drug-interdiction operations for the last two and months of its deployment, which is scheduled to end in mid-November.
Besides intercepting drug smugglers, Crommelin was responsible for saving three fishermen from Costa Rica June 11 who had been adrift for 17 days after one of its two batteries exploded. The abandoned boat -- Don Luis II -- was sunk to prevent it from becoming a hazard to navigation.
Last month, sailors from Crommelin participated in community relations projects in Peru, including one to help build a school in a disadvantaged neighborhood of Salaverry. They built a wall at Virgin De La Puerta Elementary School in Salaverry, donating more than $500 to the project and making further improvements to the school's restrooms and small classrooms.
Crommelin's crew was aided by sailors from Peru, Ecuador and Chile. They also assembled tables and hauled boxes of books and school supplies, all donated by Crommelin's partners in education, Holomua Elementary School in Ewa Beach.
Norman Pang of Holomua Elementary said, "USS Crommelin is one of the most active educational partners that I know of in the Department of Education. They have helped Holomua both academically by providing tutors for our students and by helping us improve our facilities. When they asked us if we had anything to donate to the schools they were going to visit on their deployment, we jumped at the chance to help other schools."
On July 24, Crommelin's crew collected and delivered toiletries, clothes, toys and medicine in response to an emergency call issued in the Peruvian southern highlands, where frigid temperatures were striking the most disadvantaged people. The donations were delivered to Caritas, a charity helping poverty-stricken citizens throughout Peru.
