Navy Leaguers Bask in Carrier’s Might

As the aircraft carrier Boxer cruised eight miles off Orange County’s shores Monday, Frank Clendenen pondered the ship’s immense size and awesome defensive capability.

“I’m real proud of it,” said Clendenen, 86, a board member of the Newport Beach Navy League. “This is something we rarely get a chance to see--what our ships can do.”

Clendenen was among about 500 Navy League members and their families who traveled before dawn to San Diego, the Boxer’s home port, to board the vessel and sail to the Long Beach Naval Shipyard, where it will be docked for 60 days.

“This means a lot to us,” retired Air Force Col. Louis Ballas said as he disembarked at the shipyard. Ballas is president of the league, a support group for the Navy.

The 1,500 civilians who joined the Boxer’s crew were given a tour of the ship and shown emergency drills and helicopter and Hovercraft military maneuvers. “I feel a lot more secure now that I know how they operate,” said Ballas, who flew P-38 fighter planes in World War II.

The 850-foot vessel will receive new electronic equipment and be fitted with women’s facilities before it is deployed on its first mission next spring, Lt. Cmdr. Bob Higginson said.

“This is an opportunity for us to show Navy supporters and taxpayers what they are getting for their money,” Higginson said.

The aircraft carrier cost $875 million in 1984 and would cost $1.3 billion to replace, Higginson said. It took five years to build the Boxer, which was launched in 1991 and commissioned last spring.

The league, which has 75,000 members nationwide, is a civilian educational organization that supports the Marine Corps, Navy, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine, and recognizes outstanding sailors.

Having an opportunity to explore military vessels “is another good reason to join the Navy League,” said retired Rear Adm. Donald Bergman, 79, who was among the group that took charter buses from Fashion Island at 5 a.m. “It’s always good to check out what’s new on these ships.” The ship is the sixth in the U.S. fleet to be named Boxer. The first was a British warship captured by the Enterprise during the American Revolution.

Among those on Monday’s cruise were about 100 crew members from the fifth Boxer, commissioned in 1945. Other groups included the Assn. of Naval Aviation, Naval Academy alumni and members of the Orange County Disaster Medical Assistance Team.

“If there is a major earthquake, for instance, this can be a 600-bed medical ship,” said Michael W. Steinkraus, executive director of the disaster team.