USS Nimitz leaves Chennai coast

Chennai, July 5: After a four-day sojourn here, the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz left the city coast today.

Sources in the US Consulate here told that the ship, along with the USS Pinckney, which also anchored off Chennai port on July two, left around 1000 hrs. Both the ships were heading back to the Persian Gulf region to support coalition forces for peace in Iraq.
During its four-day visit, marked by protests from various political parties and environmental agencies on the grounds of radiation hazards, the crew of the world's largest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier participated in community work in various parts of the city and visited a tsunami rehabilitation village at Kanathur on the city outskirts and interacted with the victims and children.

The crew also celebrated the US Independence day aboard the ship yesterday.

Both the ships were anchored about two nautical miles off Chennai coast and an Indian Naval ship was deployed near its vicinity to carry out regular checks on radiation release into the environment.

The US Navy and the Indian Navy officials interacted with each other on strengthening ties between the two countries.

The parties had opposed the docking of the USS Nimitz in Indian territorial waters, fearing radiation hazards. But the US allayed the fears and said the first ever port call in India by an US-based aircraft carrier was a landmark event in the bilateral relations of both the countries.

''The US and Indian navies have conducted increasingly elaborate joint exercises on the high seas over the past several years, regularly cooperating in bilateral and multilateral framework known as the Malabar series of joint Indo-US exercises,'' officials in the US consulate argued.

UNI

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