A few dozen sailors had gathered to watch the address on the wall-mounted television in the mess hall, and plates of mac “n” cheese slid across the plastic dinner trays as their Commander-in-Chief praised the US military and made the case for war. But even here, in one of the mighty American war machines whose aircraft may soon be pounding Iraq, there was a marked ambivalence about the task ahead.

Many, resigned to war, simply stayed away. “You should have been here for the Super Bowl,” said Rocardo Fosado, a 19-year-old aircraft technician from California. “This place was packed – but they did have chicken wings.”

Others wholeheartedly supported their President. “I think the same as everyone else. We need to get rid of Hussein,” said Jason Cooper, 20, an electrician from Oregon.

But there are dissenters. “To be honest, I think it’s a crock of s***,” said Christina Senatro, a pale, freckled 18-year-old from Florida, who stopped in front of the television on her way to a 12-hour shift on the flightdeck.

“I don’t think Bush should be starting a war,” Ms Senatro added. “He’s just trying to do something his father couldn’t do. It’s just crazy. People talk about it all the time around here. They think this is all bulls***. Nobody really wants to go to war. I’m getting out of the Navy as soon as I can.”

At barely 5ft 5in, Ms Senatro seems an unlikely foe for Saddam Hussein. This assignment is her first time away from home, and less than one in five of the ship’s crew are female. “My Mom’s really nervous,” she said. “I’m just out of high school and now I’m off to fight a war. I wanted to go to college, but my family didn’t have enough money.

“I’m from a big family, and all the money my dad had put away for me had been spent by the time I was 18. But I’m going after this. I’m thinking of doing massage therapy.”

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