Navy and Coast Guard

0 Comments | Naval Aviation News, Sept-Oct, 2001 | by Josn Dan Ball

On 21 July, Singapore tanker HL Moogal called the Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, regarding a 32-year-old crewman who was suffering from appendicitis and needed medical care. After consulting with doctors, the rescue coordinators recommended evacuation to the nearest hospital. The tanker's position was 830 nautical miles southeast of Hawaii. It took a joint Navy and Coast Guard operation involving SEAL Team 1, Lake Erie (CG 70) and two aircraft to get the patient to the hospital.

At 0200 on 22 July, four members of SEAL Team 1 parachuted with a raft out of a CGAS Barbers Point, Hawaii, C-130 aircraft, paddled to the tanker and administered antibiotics to the sick man. Lake Erie got underway just after midnight, and later a CGAS Barbers Point HH-65 helicopter landed aboard the cruiser to assist in the rescue. When CG 70 was in range of the tanker, the helo crew performed a nighttime hoist and returned with the victim to Lake Erie for the day's ride back to Hawaii. When the cruiser was 100 miles southeast of the island, the helicopter departed for Hilo Airport and from there an ambulance took the patient to Hilo Medical Center. A sucessful appendectomy was performed on the crewman.