Tales From The Travels

The Sunday portion of our training last weekend was devoted to damage control (DC) training. DC is exactly what it sounds like, controlling damage. Since we’re talking about warships, most damage involves holes in the ship somewhere and water getting in. Consequently, some of the major portions of it consist of patching holes in the hull or deck, bracing busted hatches, and stopping leaks from pipelines. This is stuff that can make the difference in whether a ship survives or sinks.

In 1987, the USS Stark was hit with two Exocet cruise missiles fired by an Iraqi aircraft. The missiles impacted, but didn’t explode. Instead, they blew big holes from their impact and continued to burn, setting the spaces on fire. 37 men died, but the ship survived, thanks to heroic DC and firefighting efforts on the part of its crew.

In 1975, the USS Belknap collided with the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy, killing six men on the Belknap and one on the Kennedy. The Belknap collided with the overhanging flight deck of the Kennedy which ripped its superstructure off, rupturing seams throughout the ship and starting extensive fires. The crew had to fight all night to keep the ship afloat.

In 1969, the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne collided with the USS Frank E. Evans and cut the American ship in two, resulting in the deaths of 79 crewmen. The front section sank within minutes, but the aft end stayed afloat due to having its watertight doors secured. The survivors were evacuated to the Melbourne and the wreckage was cut loose.

In comparison, the British lost the HMS Sheffield in the Falklands War of 1982. The ship was hit by a single Exocet missile fired by an Argentine aircraft. 20 crewmen died in the attack. Like in the USS Stark, the missile did not detonate, but continued to burn, setting the ship on fire. This class of British ship did not emphasize the importance of fire fighting and damage control and the crew was unable to save the ship. They abandoned ship after several hours, but the ship continued to float and burn for another six days before sinking.

It is easy to see why we place so much emphasis on training for firefighting and damage control. It’s important that every member of the crew knows how to perform these functions, not just the primary teams. While the this training is extensive and done wherever the ship happens to be, the big validation is Refresher Training (REFTRA), which is an intensive evaluation all ships must successfully complete before going on extended deployments. Until recent years, REFTRA on the east coast was done at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Guantanamo Bay, Cuba is a base we have on the southeast coast of Cuba. We signed a lease with the government of Cuba in the 19th century and have kept it since then. We have diligently paid the rent to Castro, but he reportedly never cashes the checks. Instead, he uses it as a rallying point for his anti-American Imperialism tirades. It’s ringed with barbed wire and minefields and guarded by a large contingent of Marines, but is actually very peaceful and people stationed there take their families for their tour of duty. There are schools and the Navy makes a concerted effort to provide as much recreation as it can. Today, of course, it’s famous as the place we take terrorists for detainment until we figure out what to do with them.

I made two trips to GTMO (or Gitmo), as it’s affectionately called. GTMO was a very peaceful place and, since we went during the winter both times, it was a nice, tropical break when we could use it most. The scuba diving there was excellent and you could just walk in from the beach. I did several dives there and since it wasn’t open to the tourists, it was still a pristine environment. Some of the most beautiful diving I’ve ever done.

There were also things to do on base. Since everyone was essentially confined to base, the Navy did what it could to keep moral up. I never had a problem finding something to do there. Among things you could do was fish. I’m not much of a fisherman, but I enjoy watching others. I was up on the hill one day with some others and we could actually see a school of fish making its way into the bay. By the time we got down to the ship there were guys on the pier hauling in tunas. They weren’t even using bait! They just cast their hooks in and then hauled them out, almost as fast as they could cast. The pier was covered with tunas flopping around. They also had this outdoor theater that showed free movies after it got dark enough. The seats were bleachers and there was no air conditioning, but it was pretty comfortable after the sun set. One benefit was that you could eat and drink just about anything at this theater. I would get some popcorn and a beer and enjoy myself.

I also enjoyed the work, although the hours were long and hard. We were perfecting our skills and this was something I found rewarding. The REFTRA people would come on and we would get underway for the training area just outside the entrance to the bay. The evaluation team would then inform us of the simulated crisis situation we were in. They would walk into a compartment and announce that an enemy round had struck the compartment. Everyone there was either dead or dying. The ship’s crew would then have to react. Fires would have to be put out, injured people treated, and disrupted services would have to be restored. All of this while normal operations continue throughout the ship, just as if we had actually been in battle.

Part of the evaluation procedures involved the evaluators walking around and randomly picking crewmembers to ask them questions about things we were all supposed to be trained in. I was walking down the passageway during one of these periods when I was stopped and questioned about the DC and firefighting equipment. I was on the firefighting team and was fascinated with the DC gear. I would ask questions and get extra training on everything on the ship. Since this was a duty of everyone on board, I had plenty of opportunities. If the REFTRA guys were looking for someone that knew the equipment, they hit the jackpot when they picked me. I started telling this guy all about everything, pointing out all the different safety measures and the various backups. I talked about how this system or piece of equipment was used in this situation, but if the situation was different, then you would want to use this stuff over here. I was really on a role! I didn’t even wait for them to ask me about something, I just jumped right in and started training them on it! Pretty soon, I could tell he was trying to get away, but I didn’t let him go until I was done. I can imagine he went back and told the other evaluators, no matter what, don’t ask that guy any questions!

During one of the general quarters drills (GQ) I was assigned to take radar fixes of our location. This is when you use the radar to take a range to several points to determine your location by triangulation. We were just off the coast of communist Cuba and maneuvering wildly to the imaginary battle, so it was important to maintain a constant vigil on our location. I was getting very accurate fixes when I plotted us in Cuban waters. All of our maneuvering had resulted in us leaving the international waters and going into Cuban territorial waters! Not good! I looked at my results and went, ‘Holy shit! We’re in Cuban waters!’ I thought I was talking to myself and was turning to inform the watch officer when I found out the captain was actually standing right behind me and had hear me. He said, ‘Where?’ I pointed to my fix on the chart and said, ‘Right there!’ He looked at were I was pointing on the chart and went, ‘Holy shit! We’re in Cuban waters!’ He dashed up to the bridge and shortly after that the ship healed over as it made a hard turn and a beeline back to international waters. We were concerned for several days that the Cubans would make an incident out of it. There were some Soviet ships making a port visit down the coast and we waited to see if they would come up and harass us, but nothing ever came of it.

I really studied my damage control back then, but I never had the experience of being in a wet trainer until this last weekend. A wet trainer is exactly that, a simulated ship that they flood with water. You and the other students have the job of patching, shoring and dewatering to save the ship. No one ever does. The instructors can flood the water in faster than the students can take it out.

The first drill I was on deck with the dewatering team, so I didn’t drown. I just got to watch the ship sink. The second drill put me inside. It was pretty bad. We couldn’t even find the hole we were supposed to patch and then some of the equipment was missing. But, we persevered and finally patched the hole, even though we were in about eight feet of water at the time. We died, but it was a glorious death.

Hopefully, it’s not a skill I’ll ever need to use. But, I feel confident I can contribute if I ever do.