Lake Erie CO describes anti-satellite shot

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Interview with Capt. Hendrickson
Crew praised after satellite shoot-down.


Lake Erie CO describes anti-satellite shot
By Zachary M. Peterson - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Feb 22, 2008 23:53:13 EST

Only a small group of sailors and a small team of government and industry experts knew the nature of the cruiser Lake Erie’s mission when the ship left port in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Feb. 14.

As the ship began steaming northwest, the news that a Navy ship would attempt to shoot down an errant spy satellite was breaking at the Pentagon. Capt. Randy Hendrickson, the skipper of Lake Erie, told Navy Times via telephone that he waited until the ship was at sea to call an all-hands meeting and inform his crew of 360 sailors what they were about to attempt. Until then, all the crew knew was that it was training for an unspecified mission, the captain said.

The ship spent four days conducting rehearsals, Hendrickson said, prior to steaming to its launch site in the ocean. The ship arrived on station northwest of Hawaii a “few hours prior to launch” Feb. 20, the skipper said.

“(We) were granted weapons release authority, and the crew performed superbly,” he said. “They were very calm.”

Lt. Cmdr. Andrew Bates, the ship’s tactical action officer, fired the SM-3 missile, based on the manual firing sequence list built by Fire Controlman 2nd Class Andrew Jackson, a missile system supervisor, officials said Friday in a press release issued by Pacific Fleet officials in Hawaii. Jackson was the first watchstander to receive indications that the missile successfully hit the target, they said.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/02/navy_missile_interview_080222w/