sustainable clean water training

The day started like any other day, up at 0430, wash face, sprinkle on a dash of aftershave, get dressed, climb the stairs to the NGO Lounge to check and see if the internet is up. Nope, still down so it’s off to the mess for a cup of coffee while we wait to eat breakfast. All is the same except today we have a gray ship on our tail and it seems to be gaining. The closer she gets we can see the U. S. ensign flying on her mast and we can also see a big white ‘ONE’ on her brow. Checking we find that it’s a United States Naval Ship (USNS), a 
resupply ship out of Norfolk, VA coming to give us some goodies, goodies that we have been without for awhile or special goodies that will make us a lot happier, goodies like real honest to goodness ice cream. YEA!

Today is UnRep Day (Underway Replenishment) so this morning, flight quarters are set in preparation to begin the VertRep (Vertical Replenishment) portion of the scheduled UnRep. This is an operation that we have all seen on TV when watching an old Navy movie where two ships are side by side, huge waves splashing around while passing goods as well as fuel from one ship to the other. For me it takes thirty two years of Navy time plus fifteen years retired before I see and take part in an actual UnRep operation. It’s going to be an exciting yet busy day.

The USNS, a MSC (Military Sealift Command) supply ship picked up supplies; food, paper products, repair parts and other
items from Norfolk, VA and is delivering them to the COMFORT. In addition the USNS will take surveyed goods and excess cargo that is no longer needed from the COMFORT.

At dawn the USNS could be seen off our stern, steaming towards us to slowly come along side to begin the UnRep. An hour and a half later we begin the VertRep operation of cargo being moved from the COMFORT to the USNS. As pallets were set down on the USNS flight deck, fork lifts began scurrying around moving pallets of cargo from the flight deck into the inner portions of the ship. It was truly an orchestrated operation. Later in the day the helo would pick up cargo from the USNS and return it to the COMFORT and now our fork lifts scurried around on our flight deck in again an orchestrated operation. It must be orchestrated to ensure things are done in a timely manner, before the next helo drop arrives. This operation continued for hours.

A few minutes later, the first shot is heard as a pull line is shot from the COMFORT to the USNS to begin the transfer of cables for the fuel lines and also the pallet lines. In addition a line is tied from rail to rail which shows that we are about one hundred and eighty feet apart. Two ships one over 800 feet in length and the other 689 feet in length that close passing pallets of goods from one ship to the other while steaming at 11.9 knots. What a sight.

This operation continues well into the morning as we see Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 28 (NMCB 28) and the Marine Engineer Detail members assigned with the Bees, as the focal point of pallet moving once goods are placed on the deck, two at a time in most cases. We see a pallet jack and two Bees place the jack in position, lift the pallet and zoom, off they go towards the main doors to Supplies storage area. There the pallet is dropped while two others, a Bee and Marine pick up the pallet and zoom into the inner skin of the ship the pallet goes. It’s gone to a staging point while yet another pallet is zoomed to the entrance door. What an operation. On an average it took two minutes to transfer pallets from one ship to the other once the pallet was lifted until the cable lift was returned to the USNS.

This day we saw over seven hundred and fifty pallets of goods and equipment passed from the USNS to the COMFORT by line transfer. This entire operation was completed by early afternoon. The VertRep continued later into the day as we were able to use only one of our two helos due to the short distance from pad to pad.

As the ships Master, stated at the evenings Operations Brief, “It was a well orchestrated operation and could not have gone any better.” Every pallet that started from the USNS ended up on the COMFORTS deck.

IT WAS INDEED A GREAT JOB!

Ed Walter EDGE OUTREACH / CP11 Team Leader