Gulf Coast Mississippi. - I was in my office when my security officer poked his head in and said a plane crashed into the world trade center. I thought briefly about the B-17 that got lost in the fog during WW2 and crashed into the Empire State Building or one of the other tall buildings. and I hoped that things were going to be okay. But at the time I was going over what I thought were more important things - over repair work that was going on throughout the ship - some minor depot work for the missile launchers, some structrural hull repair work needed in the sonar equipment room. So I ignored the security officer for the time being.
I stepped out into the wardroom for a little break and saw everyone clustered around the TV watching the live events - saw the plume from the first crash, and then we all watched the second plane crash into the other tower. WTF?
Then we got a call from the radio watch reporting flash traffic directing us to set threat condition Delta, and everything went out the window.
I remember rushed meetings with the Commanding Officer and Executive Officer, me briefing on what needed to get done to set threat condition Delta, status of the ship's weapons and electronics, the Supply Officer briefing our supply status (how much fuel, how much food, etc), Ops Officer briefing our possible mission assignments, Engineer - status of the propulsion plant, etc.
Every ship inport lit up their air search radars - something not done inport because it interferes with ATC radars and everyones' cordless phones in their homes - the Aegis radar operates in the same frequency band as aircraft transponders so it would render ATC unable to interrogate them. Every ship set their sonar to max power and pinged away like mad. Any diver in the water would get a huge headache.
Every weapon in the armory (16 machine guns - over 30 rifles - and 40 pistols) was issued out and I waited in dread for the word about the first sailor getting shot by some other sailor because of fumbled weapons. You just don't trust sailors with weapons if you've seen some of them shoot.
We spent that night on the ship. By this time every aircraft had landed and so in theory nothing should be flying. Around 10pm on 9/11 we went to battle stations - radar picked up an aircraft inbound to the naval station. The captain ordered it to be engaged - we tried confirming with SEADS to see if was military - it wasn't squawking a valid mode 4 IFF - we put a white bird (live warshot) on the missile rail - something I'd never done either even in the Persian Gulf - and got a "Birds Affirm" meaning the missile was tracking the inbound aircraft and the computer had a valid fire control solution and all I had to say next was "Take track 12345 with birds." and the FC on the console would push THE button and I would have just launched my first warshot in anger against something that wasn't a target drone and someone was going to die.
I tried thinking of what could be in the air - one of the criteria the Navy uses to determine hostile intent was and still is - not on an established airway - which works in the Persian Gulf but not the US- and I had to argue with the captain who wanted to engage before it got any closer with the knowledge I had as an instrument pilot - no one flies on airways in the US if they don't have to.
As the captain was pondering this new airway info - we were finally able to establish contact on 121.5 and it was law enforcement helo but I don't remember if they were allowed to be in the air or not. The captain was satisfied with the ID however. We stood down and I was quite happy to strike the missiles back into the magazine.
The dawn of Sep 12, we sortied out to sea to establish radar pickets along the Gulf Coast to extend NORAD's radar coverage.
I remember getting underway - we had gotten underway for deployments and exercises before - but this time it was different - at least for deployments and exercises you knew you were coming back in 2 weeks or 6 months or whenever - but you knew you were coming back at a certain time. You had a light at the end of the tunnel. On Sep 12 when we got underway I had this hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach, we were getting underway, but this time we didn't know when we would be coming back to port.
For the next week we maintained picket off Galveston, feeding our radar picture to SEADS and NORAD. Other ships were stationed off the East Coast off the West Coast and the Gulf Coast feeding their picture to NORAD. The first few days were relatively quiet, we queried every ship entering Galveston and Houston, and boarded to inspect the ones who "fit the profile" to clear their entry into US ports. The air picture was just military air traffic so picking out any bad guys would be easy.
After a few days the airspace opened up again - nothing could have prepared us for the sheer numbers of helicopters that service the oil industry - it overwhelmed our computer's and radar's ability to track them all as they flew to and from the coast and the oil rigs. During the no-fly days - we'd plotted all the oil rigs so we knew where they were - so after a time we noticed patterns and nervously settled back into a guarded routine.
The end did show up eventually - the Navy rotated us off station one at a time to replenish from an oiler but after two weeks we were told to go back to port.
I never thought I would have to issue the firing keys to the launcher operators off my own home coast. But the time I almost engaged an inbound police helo sends chills down my spine everytime I think about it and if I hadn't taken the time to question the ID criteria and discuss the engagement with the captain, I think we probably would have launched - the discussion gave the contact time to establish contact which probably saved it.
