Retired Navy Capt. Jan van Tol was in Tokyo last week when the earthquake hit, and he emailed to say he's all right. Van Tol, now with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, was in command of the amphibious assault ship USS Essex when the ship responded to the humanitarian crisis in post-tsunami Indonesia. He says it'll be the Marines' CH-53 Super Stallion and CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters, as much as anything else, that make the biggest difference in the U.S. military contribution in Japan.
"The big task once again is for heavy lift helos given the likely damage to coastal transportation infrastructure and the rugged Japanese terrain," Van Tol wrote. "Essex is on her way up from Malaysia (means a week away...), and other big decks will no doubt be assigned. They're the real assets for this given their heavy helo lift capacity, though the carriers will no doubt get the headlines with their SH-60s. (Remember that operating the heavy helos is not merely a matter of the deck space (of which the CVNs obviously have a lot more), but also of the aircraft maintenance capability needed to keep the helos operating (and I expect they'll be worked very heavily)."