‘War’ Ship’s Successful Mission

At the beginning of NBC’s superb documentary “Ship at War: Inside the Carrier Stennis,” anchor Tom Brokaw notes that whenever an international crisis erupts and America needs to project military power, one question is preeminent at the Pentagon and White House: “Where are the carriers?”

For intimidating potential enemies or punishing actual ones, nothing can match the modern aircraft carrier: 4.5 acres of sovereign American territory that can roll up beside any coast in the world and put enormous firepower ashore.

The thesis of “Ship at War” is that the most impressive part of any carrier is not the technology but the 5,000-plus crew members, particularly the young sailors whose jobs are decidedly unglamorous and whose living conditions are cramped and devoid of privacy.

Adm. Jim Zortman agrees: “What makes this place go are the young sailors and Marines from all over the country--their enthusiasm and their dedication.”

Of young sailors working the flight deck, Brokaw says, “Back home their parents might hesitate to give these kids the keys to the family car. But on board Stennis, their boss has no qualms having them drive $30-million jets just inches from the edge of the slippery deck.”

With 16 cameras and a production crew of 40, Brokaw’s team was given unlimited access to the San Diego-based carrier John C. Stennis earlier this year as it launched combat missions into Afghanistan from the Arabian Sea, where it had been since December. (The ship is now en route back to San Diego.)

The result is a wonderfully detailed, compelling account of the mini-world that is a carrier: the controlled chaos of the flight deck, the cramped quarters below, the ever-present noise and grease, the tedium and danger, and the high sense of duty and accomplishment.

“Most of them are pretty impressed with me having a top-secret clearance,” sailor Byron Brock, 22, says of his buddies back in South-Central Los Angeles.

There are scenes of tension and edginess among crew members. Brokaw notes that 40 sailors have gone to the brig during the deployment, 10 of them for drugs.

A young sailor is shown being reassigned to shore duty when a test revealed she was “two months pregnant after 98 days at sea.” Sex between sailors is forbidden, but as crew members attest, it happens.

An emotional high point comes when F/A-18 Hornet pilot Lt. Dave Balsitis describes the frantic voices of soldiers calling for air support during Operation Anaconda: “You can hear fear in the kid’s voice, and it adds a whole new meaning on top of the World Trade Center. You can hear other Americans down there with death in their voices. It’s horrifying.”

Brokaw tags along on a mission: “As we load onto the F-14 and go through our preflight checks, I’m focused on two goals: Not screwing up, not throwing up.”

Apparently, truth is not always a casualty of war.

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“Ship at War: Inside the Carrier Stennis”can be seen tonight at 8 on NBC.