USNS Yuma rescues 7
Civilians’ boat lost power in rough seas
The ship named after Yuma is making our fair city known as it makes its way across the world. The U.S. Naval Ship Yuma has recently participated in successful missions and even a sea rescue involving civilians.
Calling from aboard the ship from its home port of Little Creek, Va., Captain David Gommo described how the Yuma crew rescued seven mariners from a 50-foot powerboat that had lost power and was adrift on rough seas.
The rescue occurred Oct. 29 about 60 miles south of Key West, close to Cuba. The Yuma had just picked up 88 Seabees, which are
part of the U.S. Navy’s construction force, and 390 tons of their gear from Central America. The battalion had been drilling wells in Honduras and Guatemala in a humanitarian mission. A sister ship had been scheduled to pick up the Seabees when it had mechanical issues, so the Yuma went instead.
The ship was headed to Mississippi to drop off the battalion when a U.S. Coast Guard aircraft spotted it and asked if it could assist in the rescue. The Yuma immediately changed course and headed 40 miles toward the Good Old Girl.
The ship reached the distressed vessel in two hours and found that it had been drifting for six hours “beam to the seas,” or in layman’s terms, sideways, in seven-feet waves.
Capt. Gommo and his crew maneuvered the Yuma into close proximity with the boat and got a line down to the mariners. The seven passengers, all adults, embarked the ship with no injuries.
The crew then set out to make them comfortable, offering hot showers and giving them food, water and additional clothing.
The grateful passengers were delivered to the Naval Air Station Key West in Florida. They were very appreciative and enthusiastically thanked the captain and crew, Gommo said.
Initially, the Yuma was towing the Good Old Girl but the line broke in the rough seas. The captain decided it was too dangerous to try to establish a new line, so they left the boat behind. “The owner recognized it was very dangerous to try to get a new tow line,” Gommo said.
However, the captain later got news that the boat had been found in a Cuban boatyard and the insurance company was working on getting it back.
Rescues such as these are not unusual for Naval transport ships such as the Yuma.
“It’s not unusual for this class. Any merchant ship is obligated to help mariners in need,” Gommo explained, also noting they were in the area and had no time constraints. “We had the time and ability to get those people to safety.”
The Seabees were then dropped off in Gulfport, Miss.
Gommo said the Yuma and its crew will “continue to do the best we can to spread the good name of Yuma across the world.”
Flying the Yuma city flag on its mast, the 338-foot long fast transport ship has 20,000 square feet of storage and deck space and typically carries equipment and passengers. It is operated by the civilian Merchant Marines, with a crew of 26.
In wartime, the ship would become an auxiliary of the U.S. Navy, transporting military personnel and materials and may even operate as a hospital, but it never engages in war activities.
It was originally designed to carry 312 passengers, however, two seats were removed in a nod to the “3:10 to Yuma” movie.
“Yuma is the only (expeditionary fast transport) with a 310 space vs. a 312. I even have our shore staff referring to it as the 310,” Gommo said.