The Lewis and Clarke class dry cargo ship USNS Washington Chambers (T-AKE-11) pulled into San Diego Bay on Friday, December 4th, 2020
Posted on 12/05/2020 6:46:27 AM PST by PIF
The Pentagon is pushing its naval fleet to the brink and this is manifesting itself in its vessels appearing run-down after sustained operations.
The Lewis and Clarke class dry cargo ship USNS Washington Chambers (T-AKE-11) pulled into San Diego Bay on Friday, December 4th, 2020
(Excerpt) Read more at thedrive.com ...
Thank you, shipmate, and you too. I have always loved the “Fair winds and following seas” salutation as one departs...:)
As for the draft, I am generally against it, though I think there are a great number of young people who would benefit personally by it.
However, having a volunteer force did keep the bitch level lower, at least for me. I knew that if I piped up, one of the lifers would say “Nobody twisted your arm to get your signature on that paper!”
Bring back the old paints that actually protect the metal.
“The ship delivers ammunition, provisions, spare parts, potable water and petroleum products to US Navy and other navy ships at sea, allowing them to remain underway and combat ready for extended periods of time.[3]”
This ship would pull into port only long enough to restock, and then go back to sea to support the fleet.
No time for appearance centered maintenance. It had a very, very important job to do.
North Atlantic, whenever the sea state, metal temperature, and weather conditions allowed - chipping, scraping, sanding, prep, and used lead-based paint. All crew trained in firefighting and damage control. No place to let things slide.
She’s been at sea fairly steady
Can’t do much about the bottom....froggies can scrape her a bit but can’t paint her without a DD haul
You had curtains? I didn't when I was in, but yes, we'd try to jerry-rig some towels or a blanket until some inspecting Chief would see and take it down. Although we did have lights at the head our bunks. Lucky us...:) Sure you've seen some WWII movies of sailors in hammocks. Ugh.
Being on an amphib ship, when the Marine units (2000) were on board was a nightmare and sometimes a little fun. They were everywhere and you had to step over them sometimes and empty out our ship store. However, us ship's company would get even in the enlisted mess deck when we'd start swaying in unison and watch the manly-men heave their guts out. It was hilarious.
I wouldn't trade any of those experiences for anything. I was one damn ass proud Swabbie. Just wished I stayed another year so I could have turned my crow and hash marks from red to Gold. As an E-6, that was quite an accomplishment. I actually was actually thinking of doing my 20, but my rating was closing up (when CPO?) and got a great civilian offer.
Take care, shipmate.
👍
I’m no navy guy but I did actually own ships once
They rust...no question
If these guys are Covid restrained
That likely contributes
The govt loves Covid
Well, maybe I was high on Navy life...haha, or maybe delirious from all the hours on the flight deck. But I do remember seeing crews (scrappers/painters/main deck safety hands) doing their thing while just floating about in the Pacific. Maybe it was during a ShellBack initiation when the ship pretty much stops forward knots or we were anchored.
Gettin on years so I may have this hull painting thing wrong, but have mind's eye picture in my head. I was Fuels and while maintaining our pumping stations on the side, I could see down to the water line.
BTW, what was your rating? Were you ship's company or attached to a Naval air wing or a Marine unit?
OK, I will give you that. I would certainly go 30% of this nation is flat nuts. I think a lot of the rest are the “everybody does it” types.
With the very sensitive sailors spending 80% of their time in gay & lesbian pursuits as guaranteed by the Constitution, no ship’s captain would dare to order them to stop and start cleaning up the ship...
However, if you think that this is bad right now, just wait until year 2 of the Harris-Pelousy administration...
2 of the Harris-Pelousy administration...
—
You mean the Harris-Xi administration - easy to get confused about who’s who
I was an Aviation Machinists Mate 2nd Class, in VA-46 “The Clansmen” an attack squadron flying A-7 Corsairs. Oddly, the same squadron McCain was in when they had the fire on the Forrestal. Also, he was my CO for a few months when I was with the training squadron before they sent me to my squadron.
Now, I went ashore on liberty launches plenty of times, so I had a lot of opportunity to view the waterline and hull for corrosion, never ever saw anything like that. And none of the other ships I saw was ever that corroded.
Odd. Maybe it was just me, but I thought for sure I would have noticed a ship that bad looking.
I agree. I owe my government and the US Navy a great debt. I learned a lot of things in the US Navy that have served me well in life.
We had a Marine Detachment on board and I gained a good deal of respect for them, even if at the time there was a lot of back and forth taunting...:)
There are NO branches of the US Navy including the Marines, as they are part of the Dept.of The Navy. In my day (75-87) commissioned officer ranks were:
Ensign (1 wide gold (shoulder board and dress sleeves)
Lieutenant Junior Grade (1wide,1 thin)
Lieutenant (2wide)
Lieutenant Commander (1wide,1thin,1wide)
Commander (3wide)
Captain (4wide).
Then the various ranks of Admiral which had a different makeup to their shoulder boards.
I never heard of a First Lieutenant until now. But then, I've been out of Navy for a long time. Still, I do know there are NO branches of the Navy. Show me or maybe I misread your post. What is a "small surface combatant"?
Fair enough about the draft. You still haven’t told me your rating.
We used to have Long Beach for overhauls and IIRC 32nd st in San Diego. Both had dry dock capabilities. LB could handle large carriers. Now it’s just Bremerton on the west coast.
Thanks for the larger image.
I’ll give a pass to the civilian manned T-AKE, but the destroyer is CAKED IN RUST. There is NO EXCUSE for this whiny or otherwise.
You don’t need to be in port to chip and paint the superstructure.
“The amount of surface rust is proportional to contiguous days at sea.”
-And the extent to which deck division considers rust to be someone else’s job.
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