Navy Destroyers

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Comment by Christopher Wood on August 14, 2011 at 6:50am

Chris H...thanks for the heads up!

 

Like your sailor, mine is about the same size and also has been 'cross-trained" as a firefighter, amazed at the experience in working within the gear.

 

She also was proud to have passed her hand weapon classification, since that was not a strong suit in basic training.

 

She's glad to be back in port, but looking forward to her next time out on a longer stint. She laughingly says that she's glad that she is learning her duty incrementally considering she could have been shipped overseas and be assigned to a ship at sea, on tour.

 

Still...she would like to get her on-base living assignment so she can get off sleeping on ship even in port.

Comment by Chris H. on August 13, 2011 at 7:34pm

Careful with the information you post here.  We don't much identify individual Sailors and what they do.  They are possible targets these days, and it can even be dangerous for the families or the ships if we give too many details.

 

That said, it really is amazing what they do and how far they've come since the boot camp days.  We had the distinct pleasure of a Tiger Cruise (explanation elsewhere here) on our daughter's destroyer back in April, and got to be in the combat area to see (some of) how they do things.  Absolutely incredible what they learn and apply in such a short time. 

 

As to the "extra duties" they all get them.  No idle hands on deck, otherwise they'll get stepped on.  LOL!  Everyone cross-trains quite a bit, including our daughter in fire/rescue/medic type situations which is pretty amazing because she's just over 5 feet tall and I think the gear weighs as much as she does.  But she's ready to apply her training if she's the closest and quickest to the scene in case of emergencies, just as she dislikes guns but would protect shipmates if necessary.

Comment by Christopher Wood on August 13, 2011 at 4:14pm

My daughter QMSM, Wood, Alexandra (parents will know that way of addressing FPO letters) finally was able to experience life at sea on the missle destroyer USS Oscar Austin. 

 

I dropped Alex off at Norfolk VA in late May at the Maintenance docks and only recently the OA returned to its home berth. Since then she has been standing watch, swabbing the decks, polishing brass and chipping paint for almost 2 1/2 months. Not her expected duty as a Quartermaster (Navigator) after graduating #1 in her class out of Class A school. (Typical attitude of a lean and hungry 19 year old!)

 

In her mind, the USS Oscar Austin finally got underway after extensive engine and electronic upgrades (its a ten year old ship) for a week's shakedown cruise that ended on Friday afternoon (8-12-11).

 

After a long, hot, humid summer living on ship in Norfolk (no dormitory housing available until November '11), she was not a happy sailor putting in time. (Welcome to adulthood, kid!)  

 

But I received a call last night and she was ecstatic at the end of the cruise!!!

 

Her duty (which may be typical) was 6 hours on and 15 hours off. During that duty over the five days she was on the bridge with the Captain, Executive Officer, Navigation Officer, Chiefs and other seaman of a variety of duty.

 

She was impressed with the team spirit of a small compliment (380+ relatively speaking to a Carrier). More importantly, she was thrilled that she was thrown right into course charting (with double checks by superiors) so her initial idea that she would be "shadowing" the navigator was just not observational.

 

As you can imagine at age 19, she had trepidations (what do I do?, when?, and how?), but she is relieved that although this was a serious cruise, all the officers and chiefs wanted to see her succeed and become part of the rather intimate environment of the bridge.

 

I was relieved that after as couple of months of squawking and self-doubt about joining, has taken 180 degree turn once she has finally made it out to sea.  

Comment by Paul C on August 10, 2011 at 7:36pm

Paige, no worries on the confusion. I found their FB page and they are pretty good abbot posting some pictures and updates when appropriate.

Thanks!

Comment by Chris H. on August 10, 2011 at 11:48am

As does our daughter's Decatur!  Great reference stuff posted when they're deployed.  (Always after the fact by a few days, but the lady CO kept all the families informed for which we were really grateful.)

Comment by Paige on August 10, 2011 at 11:25am

Paul, thanks for bringing that to my attention.  If I had done a better job of reviewing the list at the top of our group page, I would have known.  I don't recall any members of our Destroyer group mentioning the Roosevelt.  But, as our group grows, I'm hoping we will have more connections thru our members to other destroyers.  Just in case you hadn't search for it yet, I posted the link to the Navy's official web site for the USS Roosevelt (DDG-80).  If you are a Facebook member, you might also try searching for the ship there.  My son's ship the USS Howard (DDG-83) has a FB page and it's been a great source of information while the ship has been deployed.

Again, sorry for the confusion!

http://www.ddg-roosevelt.navy.mil/default.aspx

Comment by Paul C on August 10, 2011 at 11:13am

Thanks Paige, but he is on the USS Roosevelt (DDG 80). It is stationed out of Mayport Florida.

Chris, thanks for telling me more about the Tige Cruise. It sounds like a lot of fun.

Comment by Paige on August 10, 2011 at 10:28am

Paul, welcome to our Destroyer group!  Glad to have you here with us.  I've posted a link below for you to check out.  It is a group here on NavyDads for the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71).  The Roosevelt is an aircraft carrier homeported in VA.  I believe this is the ship you are inquiring about. 

http://www.navydads.com/group/usstheodorerooseveltcvn71

Comment by Chris H. on August 9, 2011 at 11:47pm

When our daughter first deployed, she and a LOT of the other sailors were seasick.  And she's gone on a lot of regular cruise ship trips from the time she was about five years old.  It is different, and I'm sure anxiety played a big role for everyone onboard.  There were 54 Tigers on our trip, and three got sick, but two were only one and done. It does take getting used to.  But we also had two of the four days were a glass-top ocean with very little disturbance from even a breeze.  What was fun (other than guns going boom to destroy a killer tomato) was high-speed turns where we tilted over 30 degrees and almsot stuck the aft helicopter deck rails in the water.  (We were told in advance to make sure we were braced or had something attached to hang onto.  And you needed it.)

Comment by Paul C on August 9, 2011 at 11:29pm

That's really cool.  It must be nice having them so close...  I would love to do a Tiger Cruise, but I tend to get sea sick.  Maybe I can try some Dramamine or something.

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