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Thursday, Jul 05, 2007
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Nimitz sailors needed no clearance in India

R.K. Radhakrishnan

The governments worked it out: Captain
The visit is meant to improve ties

CHENNAI: Sailors from the United States’ nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Nimitz, needed no clearance when they landed on Indian soil. No one at the Port security asked them for any special permit as they walked out of the gates of the Chennai Port Trust and interacted with the local population.

Asked what clearance the sailors took, Captain Michael C. Manazir, Commanding Officer, USS Nimitz, in an interview said: “Our governments had worked out a deal where … the agreement is that the ship and the crew are welcome in India. There was no clearance required for individual names. That has been worked out between the governments.”

Asked if Indian authorities here demand a list of sailors going ashore, he replied in the negative. “That has been resolved between our Department of State and your government in Delhi.”

Till such time that the USS Nimitz leaves Chennai on Thursday, the entire East Quay will look like a well guarded fort. Asked if the U.S. Navy anticipated any trouble here, Admiral Blake said this was mostly for force protection. “India wanted to make sure that the visit was incident free. There were no issues.”

On the sinking of a boat that ferried sailors and visitors from the ship to the port, Rear Admiral John Terence Blake, Commander, Carrier Strike Group 11, said: “What happened was that it developed a leak and it went down by the stern at the piers. We have got to look into it and see how to fix it. I have not heard what they are going to do with it. Obviously we are going to get it up. They brought it here on a heavy lift ship. They will get it up and probably repair it in Singapore.”

Admiral Blake said that the visit to Chennai was designed to improve relations between the two countries. “It has so far been Navy-to-Navy ... Our sailors coming in, it increases people-to-people contact. All of our sailors coming back have spoken very positively about Chennai and I think what will happen now is since Nimitz experience has been so positive, hopefully, the government of India and the people of Chennai will invite back more ships in the future.”

PTI reports:

The USS Nimitz and the USS Pinckney, which also anchored off the Chennai port, will leave at 10 a.m. on Thursday.

The ships are headed back to the Gulf region.

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