Battleship takes humanitarian aid to Georgia

By JEB PHILLIPS

The commander and executive officer are both Ohio State University graduates.

The USS McFaul sailed into an international mess Sunday. The United States said the ship brought only humanitarian aid when it dropped anchor in the Georgian port city of Batumi.

Russian officials saw the McFaul, a guided-missile destroyer, and thought otherwise.

“Battleships do not normally deliver aid, and this is gunboat diplomacy,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. “It does not make the situation more stable.”

In the middle of all of this are the two Ohio State University graduates who lead the McFaul: Cmdr. Timothy Schorr, originally of LaRue in Marion County; and Lt. Cmdr. Timothy Gibboney, originally of Bexley.

“It’s obviously a very emotional issue for [the Georgians],” Schorr said in a telephone interview from the McFaul. “Overjoyed” would be the correct way to describe their reaction to his ship’s arrival, he said.

Rising tensions exploded into armed conflict earlier this month between the Georgian military and South Ossetian separatists, prompting an invasion by Russian troops that battered the Georgians. Hundreds of troops and civilians died; thousands were left homeless and in need of food and medical supplies.

Russia’s announcement this week that it recognized the independence of rebel territories South Ossetia and Abkhazia was condemned by the U.S. and European Union. The West also demands Russia honor a cease-fire agreement by pulling its troops back to where they were before the conflict began. Russia says the troops are acting as peacekeepers.

The McFaul was training in the Mediterranean Sea when the call came to head for Georgia. The ship was to take part in Operation Assured Delivery to provide humanitarian aid to the U.S.-backed government.

The ship picked up 55 tons of supplies in Crete, then sailed for the Black Sea through the Turkish Straits. It anchored just outside the port, and a barge ferried bottled water, baby food and hygiene products to land.

“A destroyer like ours isn’t exactly designed to store all of this stuff,” Gibboney said.

Everything had to be taken off pallets and crammed anywhere it would fit. When the McFaul anchored, all of the supplies had to be restacked on pallets to be unloaded.

The Russian military has been nothing but polite and professional, Schorr said. He said the crew hasn’t felt in any danger.

The McFaul remains anchored in the Black Sea for now, awaiting further instructions, Schorr said. A second ship, a Coast Guard cutter, delivered more humanitarian aid yesterday.

Media reports have suggested the McFaul and other ships might head to Poti, the main Georgian seaport where Russian troops are deployed, but Schorr said he had not received those orders.

Schorr, 43, who lives in Chesapeake, Va., graduated from Elgin High School in LaRue in 1983, Ohio State in 1988 and later earned a master’s degree from Miami University. He’s been stationed all over the world with the Navy. He is married with three children.

Gibboney, 42, lives in Crofton, Md. He graduated from Bexley High School in 1984, then enlisted in the Navy. After 4 Ω years, he went to Ohio State on a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps scholarship and graduated in 1994. He worked as a recruiter in Columbus from 1998 to 2000 and earned a master’s degree from Franklin University. He is married with four children.

The commander, Schorr, and his executive officer, Gibboney, had never met before they were assigned to the McFaul about 10 months ago. They quickly bonded over Ohio State, they said.