Feature Story

Story and photos by Petty Officer Henry G. Dunphy

The dining rooms and passageways were dimly lit with emergency power, and the odor of smoke could be detected in the still air. The dance floors were silent and the swimming pools deserted. For the nearly 3,300 guests aboard the cruise ship Carnival Splendor, this was not the luxury excursion to the Mexican Riviera that they had bargained for.  Nevertheless, thanks to the efforts of the many entities involved, the passengers and crew of the debilitated vessel were safe and headed to port in San Diego.

Two days into the cruise, on the morning of Nov. 8, 2010, a fire erupted in one of the cruise ship’s engine rooms. After several hours, the ship’s crew succeeded in extinguishing the fire, but damage to the electrical systems left the ship dead in the water, and the almost 4,500 people aboard with electricity to power only the barest essentials.

With the fire out the situation was stable, but the ship was now adrift and facing the problems of health and sanitation for those aboard due to the loss of sewage systems, ventilation, hot water and refrigeration.

To meet the immediate needs of the people aboard, a team of Coast Guard members from Coast Guard Cutter Morgenthau and sailors from the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan worked together to deliver supplies to the stricken cruise ship.

The Coast Guard coordinated with the Navy to have 65,000 pounds of supplies, including water, bread and canned goods, flown from Naval Air Station North Island, in San Diego, to the Reagan. From there, the supplies were ferried by helicopter to the cruise ship, where the replenishment team was ready to receive them.

“Our first concern was being able to do the operation safely,” said Coast Guard Ensign Steven Lewis, a landing signal officer from the Morgenthau.  “We had to make sure that the deck was clear of any debris and that all the passengers were in safe locations.”

The Splendor has no helicopter pad, so an improvised staging area was chosen on the exercise track, just forward of the distinctive red, white and blue smokestacks on the upper deck. Lounge chairs were cleared from the deck and anything that could be moved by the hurricane-force winds created by an MH-60 Seahawk helicopter overhead was secured.  Curious passengers were ushered inside, and the flight operations could commence.

The pallets of provisions were slung three at a time in cargo nets below the matte gray aircraft. Lewis, the yellow-jerseyed landing signal officer, guided the helicopter crews into place using hand signals. When the cargo dangled over the correct spot, a sweeping lateral hand motion cued the aircrew to release the bundles.

With each drop, the ground crew of Coast Guardsmen and sailors moved in, unfastened the cargo nets and cleared the supplies from the deck to make ready for the next drop.

“This is what we do best, get supplies aboard the ship,” said Navy Seaman Logistics Specialist Immanuel Carter, whose day-to-day job is performing similar supply operations aboard the Reagan.

After several drops, a group of Splendor crewmembers approached and offered to assist in moving supplies off the deck between drops. Together, the Coast Guard, Navy and Splendor personnel settled into a system of guiding in the helicopter, detaching the cargo nets from the pallets, hauling the provisions off the deck and prepping the area for the next drop.

By sunset, more than 20 drops had been completed, and the people aboard the Splendor had enough food and water to sustain them for the transit to port.

“When we were finished we got a round of applause from the crewmembers and the guests aboard,” Carter said, “It made us feel pretty important. It was nothing new to us because this is our everyday job, but seeing how we could impact the people aboard felt good.”

“It’s a great feeling knowing that Coast Guard and Navy personnel can jump in and work together after not knowing each other for even five minutes,” Lewis said. “We were able to safely conduct operations together quickly and efficiently.”

The essentials were on board and the tugboat Chihuahua was towing the Splendor slowly, but surely, toward San Diego. The menu was not gourmet, but it could have been worse.

“There is a lot of stability to this case,” said Capt. Anthony Gentilella, commanding officer of the Morgenthau and on scene commander for the response, “The passengers aboard the cruise ship are safe, and they get a lot of peace of mind seeing that the Coast Guard is out here doing things to help them, like bringing on food and water.”

Though not the cruise anyone planned on, for everyone involved with this voyage of the Carnival Splendor, it will be one they will never forget.