Diego Garcia photos - anyone else been there?
 

A while back there was a discussion about Diego Garcia in another thread, which got me to dig out some old photos that I took when I was there for 2 weeks in 1988. Our air wing would 'det' (detach) 2 S-3's at a time down to 'Dodge' to make room for 2 more A-6's while the carrier was in the North Arabian Sea. It was basically a 2 week vacation, which was spent sailing, windsurfing, drinking beer and basically enjoying tropical paradise on Uncle Sam's dime. The F-14 guys may have had a cooler airplane to fly, but they and the rest of the air wing were mighty jealous of us that got to go down to DG. Here are a few shots...approaching the airfield after the 5+ hour flight - you can see the 'prepositioning ships' in the lagoon to the left. They were staged with armor, ammo, and other weapons in the event of conflict in the Persian Gulf:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1406410468.jpg

The obligatory welcome sign (BIOT stands for British Indian Ocean Territory):
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1406410555.jpg

The entrance to the O Club...geez our shorts were SHORT back then...:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1406410684.jpg

And the BOQ - it was less than 50 yards from my door to the beach:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1406410769.jpg

DG is U-shaped, and on the other side is an abandoned coconut (I think) plantation. We sailed over there one day to check it out, very cool. There is an entire town there, with a church, prison, and plantation homes:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1406410947.jpg

And the coolest item on the other side is this crashed PBY Catalina:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1406410988.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1406411009.jpg

Back on 'mainside', the cemetery:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1406411048.jpg

And the end of a typical day:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1406411086.jpg

Diego Garcia photos - anyone else been there?
 

Read that other thread. Haven't been but it left an impression and is on my radar as a potential future locale for myself... I already have a few others that are even more unknown (particularly to Americans) which I intend to visit in the coming years, maybe more...

Leaving after our 2 week 'vacation':
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1406411216.jpg

And back to reality on the Nimitz:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1406411259.jpg

Anybody else been there?

1987 for me. I was flying off FFG-37 with the Connie BG.

We left the BG to do the escorts of the re-flagged Kuwaiti tankers during Operation Earnest Will.

Diego, for all it isn't, sure beat haze grey:D

At anchor off Fujairah waiting for the third escorts, we almost shot town an S-3 with an intermittent squawk. Sea stories...I'll find some pics and scan them.

Cool picture.

S-3?

Dave, do you know Jerry Neuberger? he is a retired S-3 stick. About the same time as you.

I pulled in there the first time in 1970 or so and there were 4 British officers and NOTHING else there. Went back again in 1977 and it was amazing what we had done to screw up that little place. I was on The CGN35 when we towed a FFG that had had a fire into the inlet and along side a tender that we kept moored there as there was no pier yet! Last time was in 1984 as we needed to pick up some nuclear spare parts and the island supply folks were afraid to move them once they had been off-loaded from a place.

The mansion for years was used as a R&R "hotel with bar girls from the PI working there and E7 or O4 and above could spend a night there! Not any longer I guess?!

With rising oceans , I imagine Diego Garcia will be a lot smaller in a couple decades.

"Top 5 Most Vulnerable Military Installations (listed in no specific order)
The following bases are strategically important for the US and are also extremely vulnerable to extreme weather, rising sea-levels, coastal erosion and other effects of climate change.
1. Diego Garcia
Diego Garcia is a critical logistics hub for the US and UK militaries in the Middle East. However, the island is a coral atoll encompassing 67 square miles, of which only 10 square miles is dry land.7
Due to its exposure to the extreme weather in the Indian Ocean, changing temperatures and increasing rainfall, Diego Garcia faces the threat of coastal erosion and flooding. The highest point above sea-level is 22 feet, but the island’s mean height above sea-level is 4 feet.
Most areas do not exceed 6.5 feet (2 meters). A sea-level rise of a several feet would force the US military to undertake a costly and difficult military relocation process; in addition, the military would lose a geographically strategic outpost in the Indian region."

http://americansecurityproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Military-Basing-and-Climate-Change.pdf

I sure wouldn't buy any property or make any long term investments in a coastal area so likely to be submerged. I suppose the US could dredge and fill, but the pretty beaches might not survive.

Yeah, I guess rising sea levels would put DG at risk :(....

The name sounds very familiar - I bet we crossed paths. Was he west coast? And I'm assuming since you are in San Diego and your call sign is 'crusty chief' that you were a west coast sailor also? VS-33 (North Island S-3's) here, with tours in VS-35 and an instructor gig in SWATS and VS-41 for me.

Is that the mansion on the plantation on the other side of the atoll?

Yeah. Thanks for the info Debbie Downer.

I'm thinking the Pac NW will be climatically favored :-)

Seriously, there is a lot of coastal property, especially on the East Coast but some on the West Coast (Puget Sound etc) that shouldn't get a thirty year mortgage . . .

DG, Kwajalein, Guam, Truk, I've hit them all. When I was in DG in 1977, photography was not allowed. Same for the atoll and lagoon, but we were special. I was on DDG-34 long since decommissioned.

Yes, the same one in the picture above as I made a couple visits there. A friend of mine was command master chief just before he retired to Darwin Australia around 1982 or so. I won a 10k race there in the over 35 age group in 1984 against people from the island commands, the repair ship and two ships that had come in for parts and such. Ah yes, the old Navy!

My dad is convinced that this is where MH370 landed. Any chance the old coot is onto something?

Their keeping it in the hollowed out volcano........... or was that the plot for a James Bond movie?

It's actually being kept at the secret base on Keeling Island.

so you were a screwbird... I recognized the cvw-9 f14's on the deck (nickles and renegades) I was deployed with the connie 77-80 transferred the day we got back from wespac 1980, that was a long flight from gonzo to dg

nice pics, seeing that catalina is pretty strange!

ps those shorts are back in fashion now if you can find them!

Yup, went in 1980. During our Gonzo Station tour, only for the day. I preferred Port Louis.