Gentlemen and ladies,
Welcome to Part 2a of my adventure of being a SWO. For this part, my goal is to give you an overview of what things we are currently doing on the ship. What my daily routine is like will be in Part 2b. What I want, is for the average person to read what I have written and have a new found respect for what we do. As for my personal experience, I know that all through my time at UFNROTC, the term SWO was immediately associated with "dirtbag", "slacker", "useless waste of space", and other not so nice synonyms. However, what I’ve learned, is that really is just untrue. The fact of the matter is that all three of the unrestricted line communities (submarine force, surface force, and aviation) really work hard to perform their duties the best they can (ok, ok, this includes those P-3 guys that crash their planes in other countries).
So what great things has the VALLEY FORGE been doing. Well, we got back from deployment last summer in late September. We did a counter narcotics drug operations deployment, essentially trying to chase down drug trafficers. We made a couple busts and seized enough cocaine to make Miami Vice jealous. The deployment lasted for six months and took us all through the Caribbean Ocean and Eastern Pacific. As a result, we transited the Panama Canal twice. On the last bust we made, we also seized a logistical ship. We were the first ship to take on such a task, but did so with no problems. I will have to say though, that it was one hell of a pain in the ass escorting that little boat from down by Panama all the way up to Cabo San Lucas at only 8 knots. Once we neared Cabo, another ship took possession of the drug vessel and we stopped for liberty in Cabo. We did miss a liberty port in Puerto Vaillarta though. Once we got back from deployment, the ship immediately went into a “standown” period for one month. Basically, one half the crew was on leave in a given two week time period. However, even if you didn’t take leave, the work day only lasted till around 9am or so. I didn’t take any leave and got real spoiled to getting off of work at 9am. After the “standown” was over, we got underway again, but only to offload our ammo. We were offloading ammo because we were getting ready to go into the shipyard. We did that at the end of October, came back to San Diego, did the normal working hours thing for about a month, and then went right into Christmas standown for a month. Same as before, we only worked till about 9am every day.
In January, we went into the shipyard for our scheduled availability. In addition, we also got a new captain onboard. Now, all of a sudden, we weren’t going home till 3:30pm….ooooohhhhh. However, that’s a big deal when you’re used to getting off work at 2 or even 2:30. Hey, when you start work at 6:15 or 6:30am, working anything past 2:30pm is overtime….right?
The ship spent 9 weeks in the yards. And what an absolute miserable time it was there. Not because we worked harder, or longer. But because of the environment that we worked in. It was dirty, noisy, dangerous, and inconvenient. It is so very nice to be pier side again after all that BS.
The shipyard period was there for a couple of reasons. First, the ship needed to go through it so it could get a lot of repairs done that the ship’s force could not normally do on their own. Second, it was used to start the installation of our Smart Ship program. The Smart Ship program is essentially a computer based (Windows NT) platform that runs our engineering plant and navigation system. Before, it was all analog computers doing the job with big consoles. Now, we have literally, little monitors with keyboards in front of them. My plan is to take some pictures of all this and get them up on this website.
Ok, so what does all this maintenance and installation of all this stuff mean. Well, it means we have to work harder so that it gets done on time and correctly so that we can start our training cycle on time. What we’re looking at in the near future is our Light Off Assessment (LOA). The LOA is used to make sure that your ship is safe to light off main engines and that if you have a main space fire (fire in the main engineering spaces), that your ship is capable of putting it out. The last thing you want to hear while you’re underway is “Engineering casualty, Engineering casualty, major fuel/oil leak MER-1 (main engine room one), sound and security lay to MER-1. All hell will break loose across the ship and we will go to General Quarters (GQ).
Our LOA is scheduled for 22 May. Once we get passed that hurdle, we are next in line for CART 2 starting 30 July. What CART 2 is designed to do is determine if we are ready to go out and train. Where the LOA determines if we are safe to light off our main engines, CART 2 determines if the ship has enough knowledge to start going through the training cylcle.
The next phase is TSTA A (pronounced: Testa alpha). This will begin on 6 August and last till 2 November. It is the first part of the training cycle. Then comes TSTA B (Testa bravo) and lasts from 5-9 Nov. Once that is complete, we’ll have an engineering certification in late November and then roll right into Xmas standown period. After Xmas, we’ll immediately start our battle group operations with the Lincoln Battle Group. We are deploying in June 02 as part of the Lincoln Battle group.
In the short term, we are getting ready to get underway at the end of May for sea trials. During sea trials we will test EVERYTHING that they did during the yard period just to make sure that everything is working correctly. In addition, we will be shooting my 5” guns, about 1000 rounds of .50 cal, 1000 rounds of M-60, and 600 of CIWS (Close in Weapon System) rounds……(sorry Dave, no MK 19 grenades this time around). Everybody onboard likes to hear gunfire, especially my guys…so it should be a good time had by all.
As much as I didn’t like the last deployment that we went on, I am looking forward to getting underway again and re-sharpening my skills as a ship driver. My OOD board will be coming up soon and therefore, my SWO board soon after that. And then finally, once I pass both of those boards, I will have earned my gold surface warfare pin.
LTJG Steve Wilkins
Gunnery Officer
USS VALLEY FORGE
Welcome to Part 2a of my adventure of being a SWO. For this part, my goal is to give you an overview of what things we are currently doing on the ship. What my daily routine is like will be in Part 2b. What I want, is for the average person to read what I have written and have a new found respect for what we do. As for my personal experience, I know that all through my time at UFNROTC, the term SWO was immediately associated with "dirtbag", "slacker", "useless waste of space", and other not so nice synonyms. However, what I’ve learned, is that really is just untrue. The fact of the matter is that all three of the unrestricted line communities (submarine force, surface force, and aviation) really work hard to perform their duties the best they can (ok, ok, this includes those P-3 guys that crash their planes in other countries).
So what great things has the VALLEY FORGE been doing. Well, we got back from deployment last summer in late September. We did a counter narcotics drug operations deployment, essentially trying to chase down drug trafficers. We made a couple busts and seized enough cocaine to make Miami Vice jealous. The deployment lasted for six months and took us all through the Caribbean Ocean and Eastern Pacific. As a result, we transited the Panama Canal twice. On the last bust we made, we also seized a logistical ship. We were the first ship to take on such a task, but did so with no problems. I will have to say though, that it was one hell of a pain in the ass escorting that little boat from down by Panama all the way up to Cabo San Lucas at only 8 knots. Once we neared Cabo, another ship took possession of the drug vessel and we stopped for liberty in Cabo. We did miss a liberty port in Puerto Vaillarta though. Once we got back from deployment, the ship immediately went into a “standown” period for one month. Basically, one half the crew was on leave in a given two week time period. However, even if you didn’t take leave, the work day only lasted till around 9am or so. I didn’t take any leave and got real spoiled to getting off of work at 9am. After the “standown” was over, we got underway again, but only to offload our ammo. We were offloading ammo because we were getting ready to go into the shipyard. We did that at the end of October, came back to San Diego, did the normal working hours thing for about a month, and then went right into Christmas standown for a month. Same as before, we only worked till about 9am every day.
In January, we went into the shipyard for our scheduled availability. In addition, we also got a new captain onboard. Now, all of a sudden, we weren’t going home till 3:30pm….ooooohhhhh. However, that’s a big deal when you’re used to getting off work at 2 or even 2:30. Hey, when you start work at 6:15 or 6:30am, working anything past 2:30pm is overtime….right?
The ship spent 9 weeks in the yards. And what an absolute miserable time it was there. Not because we worked harder, or longer. But because of the environment that we worked in. It was dirty, noisy, dangerous, and inconvenient. It is so very nice to be pier side again after all that BS.
The shipyard period was there for a couple of reasons. First, the ship needed to go through it so it could get a lot of repairs done that the ship’s force could not normally do on their own. Second, it was used to start the installation of our Smart Ship program. The Smart Ship program is essentially a computer based (Windows NT) platform that runs our engineering plant and navigation system. Before, it was all analog computers doing the job with big consoles. Now, we have literally, little monitors with keyboards in front of them. My plan is to take some pictures of all this and get them up on this website.
Ok, so what does all this maintenance and installation of all this stuff mean. Well, it means we have to work harder so that it gets done on time and correctly so that we can start our training cycle on time. What we’re looking at in the near future is our Light Off Assessment (LOA). The LOA is used to make sure that your ship is safe to light off main engines and that if you have a main space fire (fire in the main engineering spaces), that your ship is capable of putting it out. The last thing you want to hear while you’re underway is “Engineering casualty, Engineering casualty, major fuel/oil leak MER-1 (main engine room one), sound and security lay to MER-1. All hell will break loose across the ship and we will go to General Quarters (GQ).
Our LOA is scheduled for 22 May. Once we get passed that hurdle, we are next in line for CART 2 starting 30 July. What CART 2 is designed to do is determine if we are ready to go out and train. Where the LOA determines if we are safe to light off our main engines, CART 2 determines if the ship has enough knowledge to start going through the training cylcle.
The next phase is TSTA A (pronounced: Testa alpha). This will begin on 6 August and last till 2 November. It is the first part of the training cycle. Then comes TSTA B (Testa bravo) and lasts from 5-9 Nov. Once that is complete, we’ll have an engineering certification in late November and then roll right into Xmas standown period. After Xmas, we’ll immediately start our battle group operations with the Lincoln Battle Group. We are deploying in June 02 as part of the Lincoln Battle group.
In the short term, we are getting ready to get underway at the end of May for sea trials. During sea trials we will test EVERYTHING that they did during the yard period just to make sure that everything is working correctly. In addition, we will be shooting my 5” guns, about 1000 rounds of .50 cal, 1000 rounds of M-60, and 600 of CIWS (Close in Weapon System) rounds……(sorry Dave, no MK 19 grenades this time around). Everybody onboard likes to hear gunfire, especially my guys…so it should be a good time had by all.
As much as I didn’t like the last deployment that we went on, I am looking forward to getting underway again and re-sharpening my skills as a ship driver. My OOD board will be coming up soon and therefore, my SWO board soon after that. And then finally, once I pass both of those boards, I will have earned my gold surface warfare pin.
LTJG Steve Wilkins
Gunnery Officer
USS VALLEY FORGE