The US Navy announced today that the USS Wasp, USS Kearsarge and USS Oak Hill support relief mission in Virgin Islands. The amphibious assault ships USS Wasp (LHD 1), USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) and dock landing ship USS Oak Hill (LSD 51) along with the Marines of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit are supporting the lead federal agency in providing humanitarian relief efforts for Hurricane Irma. Wasp, the first Navy platform to arrive in the vicinity of the U.S. Virgin Islands, is providing medium and heavy lift helicopters to transport people and supplies. Wasp's helicopters are conducting medical evacuations for intensive care patients from St. Thomas to St. Croix and conducting site assessments on the initial damage in St. Thomas.
And, we also learned that St John Rescue has arranged for 2 jets to fly in needed supplies including high tech equipment and highly qualified first responders. They are deploying with Global Dirt Disaster immediate response team. They plan to 'insert' on St John in the next 36 hours (posted on Facebook Sept 7 at 2 PM).