Marines aboard USS Bonhomme Richard here prepare to connect a pallet to a hovering MH-60S Seahawk helicopter during an underway replenishment Sept. 30. The re-supply was the first for Bonhomme Richard since deploying Sept. 24 with more than 1,200 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit members. ::r::::n::

Photo by Sgt. Scott Biscuiti

Deployed task force gets first replenishment at sea

1 Oct 2009 | Cpl. Jeffrey Belovarac 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit

PACIFIC OCEAN -- The amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard received its first food and fuel replenishment Sept. 30 since deploying with more than 1,200 members of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit to the Western Pacific Sept. 24.

Forty-four pallets of supplies – from batteries to potatoes, to energy drinks and rice – were flown from fleet replenishment oiler USNS Henry J. Kaiser via a single MH-60S Seahawk helicopter to Bonhomme Richard’s flight deck.

The oiler, sailing 200 feet alongside the amphibious assault ship, pumped more than 400,000 gallons of engine diesel and 80,000 gallons of jet fuel into Bonhomme Richard.

The Seahawk made more than a dozen trips, sometimes carrying as many as five pallets at a time, which hung in nets beneath the fuselage.

“It’s kind of scary, and kind of a thrill at the same time, with a helicopter weighing thousands of pounds coming over your head,” said Lance Cpl. Andrew L. Fillmore, 19, from Salt Lake City.

Sailors and Marines near the landing area received the cargo and cleared the nets until every pallet was on board.

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