Recent 40 years

                                                30 AUGUST 1993

                                                RESCUE AT SEA

Just after midnight 31 August 1993 a chopper from NAS North Island set down on Naval Medical Center San Diego’s pad to offload a patient, Eugene P. Scheller.  Mr. Scheller, the Chief Engineer on the oiler USNS JOHN ERICSSON (T-AO-194), had sustained a serious injury to his right hand and arm while his ship was far out to sea.  A dedicated team of doctors, nurses, and corpsmen, led by LCDR Drew A. Peterson and assisted by LCDR J.P. Kelley, LT Jeffrey M. Lundeen, and LT Michael McDermott labored for six hours to reconstruct the sailor’s mangled hand.  The surgery was heroic, but in a busy, tertiary care hospital, the event drew little attention.  To be sure, the state-of-the-art, limb-saving medical care Mr. Scheller received was only the final chapter in the coordinated efforts of three sea services to accomplish his rescue.

Around 1000 on August 30^th Chief Engineer Scheller was checking the forward bearing temperature of the No. 1 power-take-off unit when his right hand and arm became entangled, fracturing both bones of the forearm and nearly amputating four fingers.  An immediate distress call went out from ERICSSON, at the time hundreds of miles at sea enroute to Hawaii.  As she turned back toward San Diego, her call was overheard by USS CARL VINSON (CVN-70) 500 miles away, well beyond the range of any ship or shore-based chopper.

VINSON was returning to Alameda after two weeks of flight operations.  At the distress call, she turned to intercept ERICSSON.  The two ships closed at nearly 50 knots while the minutes clicked away.  Back at Coast Guard Station San Francisco, a HH-60J Jayhawk, specially modified for long distance rescue, was readied for a staged flight in which VINSON would serve as an intermediate airbase.  At 1530 the Jayhawk scrambled.  It was a two-hour flight for Coast Guard pilot CDR Michael Hardie to reach the carrier for refueling, at which time he also took aboard LCDR Jeffery R. Brinker, one of the carrier’s medical officers.  Taking off again, Hardie in the Jayhawk covered the 315 miles to the oiler in two more hours.  By 2015 he was hovering over ERICSSON’s after flight deck.  The injured sailor was hoisted aboard, and the chopper turned back toward VINSON.

In the meantime, a C-2 from VRC-30 at North Island, designated “Password-36,” arrived aboard VINSON to ferry the injured sailor to the specialists at NMC San Diego.  The flashing lights of the Jayhawk could be seen approaching the carrier just after 2200.  Brinker had communicated the grave status of the injured man’s fingers, so no time was wasted.  Scheller was shuttled to the waiting Greyhound, and, just after midnight, he was on the ground at North Island.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  2 SEP 23

CAPT James Bloom. Ret.

Press Release.  USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70), Public Affairs Office, September 1993.

“Teamwork Helps Save Injured Engineer.”  The Drydock (San Diego Naval Medical Community Newspaper), Vol 56 (38), 24 September 1993, p. 4.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  Mr. Scheller’s hand and arm were saved, due in no small part to his 14-hour evacuation from the point of injury hundreds of miles at sea to the operating room at Balboa.  The story emphasizes the critical role of pre-hospital care and medical evacuation in the delivery of quality healthcare.