Reagan delivers aid to stalled cruise ship - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Reagan delivers aid to stalled cruise ship

SAN DIEGO — The aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan is rushing to the aid of the cruise ship Carnival Splendor, which remained dead in the waters off Baja California after a major fire in its engine room Monday.

Nearly 3,300 passengers and 1,170 crew members are aboard the cruise liner, which left Long Beach on Sunday for a seven-day cruise to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The 6 a.m. fire in the aft engine room knocked out all power to the 2-year-old ship, which was adrift about 173 miles southwest of San Diego.

Third Fleet officials in San Diego, at the request of local Coast Guard officials, ordered Reagan, which has been at training at sea, to travel south to help deliver the supplies, fleet officials said in a news release.

A C-2 Greyhound aircraft with Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 30 is ferrying the supplies from Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado, Calif., to Reagan. Helicopters will deliver the aid to the ship, which will be towed to Ensenada by tug boats, which on Monday were en route to the ship. Passengers will be returned home with a full refund and complimentary future cruise, Carnival officials said in a statement.