3. Inside SW

4. Letters to the Editor

6. Blast from the past

Focus

8. Fast ships in harm’s way: 

100 years of “tin cans”

The history of the destroyer is the story of rugged Sailors and their 

gallant ships in foaming seas making haste to go in harm’s way.

14. Destroyers commemorate 

100 years of service

Celebrations commemorating the destroyer centennial began in 

January and will continue through the remainder of the year.

16. Destroyers fill void in Mediterranean

When the global war on terrorism began last September, the men and

women serving aboard USS Hayler (DD 997), USS Ross (DDG 71) and 

USS Ramage (DDG 61) shouldered nearly the entire workload in 

the Mediterranean.

Feedback from the fleet

20. Why are history and tradition important to the Navy?

AWARDS

RADM Phillip M. Balisle, USN

Director, Surface Warfare Division

Editor in Chief

Dick Cole

Military Editor

LT Duane Neal, USNR

Managing Editor

JOC Bill Johnson-Miles, USN

Associate Editor

Stephanie Collins

Staff Writer

JOSN James Zike, USN

Administration and

Distribution

YN1(AW) Mark Krizovski,

USNEditorial:

Address editorial inquiries to:

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ON THE COVER:

The crew of USS Porter (DDG 78) gathers on the Aegis guided-missile destroyer’s bow in Norfolk, Va. This photo is one of

many destroyer and “tin can” Sailor photos in a destroyer centennial display at the Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C. (©

Brian R. Wolff /www.iipinet.com, All Rights Reserved.)

http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil
Vol. 27, No. 4

22 Blue-Green Exercise

Four forward-deployed amphibious ships conduct joint Navy-Marine 

exercises off the coast of Japan.

26. No rest for the hungry

Mess specialists feed hundreds serving aboard USS Mount Whitney

(LCC 20) during Exercise Strong Resolve ’02

27. Twenty-four ships earn Ney honors

The Secretary of the Navy recently recognized 24 ships for quality food

service – the equivalent of a “five-star rating.”

28. Battle E sharpens the fleet

Fifty-two ships are recognized for sustained superior performance in an

operational environment through the award of the “Battle E.”

30. Strong Resolve musters exceptional support

Sailors aboard eight U.S. Navy ships and 25,000 other NATO and 

Partnership for Peace troops participate in NATO Exercise 

Strong Resolve ’02.

32. Foal Eagle nearly rained out

U.S. Navy and Marine forces join their counterparts from the 

Republic of Korea in a realistic exercise that demonstrated and built 

combat readiness.

34. Beach Masters: first on, last off

Whenever Marines get underway, these Sailors accompany them, 

helping to move equipment, vehicles and personnel from ships to 

the shore.

36. Master helmsmen right on course

When USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) has to maneuver in tight 

spaces, one of these two Sailors is always at the helm.

Quarters

38. DC-ARM: Navy tests damage control 

‘wave of future’

Damage Control-Automated Reduced Manning not only reduces a ship’s

crew size, but also provides more effective damage control.

Spotlight

42. USS Cormorant corpsman selected Atlantic ‘Sea Sailor of the Year”

Motivated 13-year veteran is selected for high honors

what it takes

43. Master-at-Arms.

44. Now hear this

46. Views from the fleet

48. Changes of Command

49. fleetoons

This magazine is an authorized publication for members of the Department of Defense. Contents of Surface Warfare are not necessarily the official views of, or endorsed by, the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense, or the United States Navy.

Surface Warfare

(USPS 104-170) 

(ISSN 0145-1073) is published

bimonthly from appropriated

funds by authority of the Chief of

Naval Operations in accordance

with P-35. The Secretary of the

Navy has determined that this

publication is necessary in the

transaction of business required

by law of the Department of the

Navy. Use of funds for printing

this publication has been

approved by the Navy

Publications and Printing Policy

Committee. Reproductions are

encouraged. Controlled circulation.

Periodicals postage paid at

Arlington, Va., and additional

mailing offices.

from the deckplate

ON THE BACK:

LCDR Arleigh Burke poses with the crew of the destroyer 

USS Mugford (DD 389) in 1939. Burke, who passed away in 1996, 

is a former Chief of Naval Operations. (Naval Historical Center/USN)
The 100th

anniversary of

the destroyer

represents a significant landmark

in the history of a

great ship class that

has played a key role

in our national defense

and has contributed significantly to the establishment of

the greatest Navy the world has

ever known. Destroyer crews have built

a proud heritage over these warships’ first hundred years of service, fighting in every major military

conflict from the Aleutians to the Adriatic, and from

Guadalcanal to the Persian Gulf. And this heritage of

fighting and winning continues today as the men and

women of the destroyer force participate in Operation

Enduring Freedom.

Initially developed as a single mission platform tasked

with countering the fast and lethal torpedo boats of the

late 19th century, the first destroyers were small, displacing only 420 tons. As the new century progressed,

destroyers evolved, increasing in size, complexity and

capability to meet the threat. 

From the first U.S. destroyer, USS Bainbridge, commissioned in 1902, through the “flush decks and four pipes”

of World War I, to the legendary destroyers of World War

II and their variant classes, our destroyers have constantly evolved. More recently, classes with names like

Charles F. Adams, Spruance and Arleigh Burke have led

our Navy into the 21st century. Today’s destroyers are

national assets, multimission capable combatants providing joint and Naval commanders with an ever-expanding

toolbox of warfighting capabilities. The evolution does

not end there. Destroyers of the new millennium will be

the most capable in history. Their weapons will pack an

unprecedented powerful punch that will redefine the

name “destroyer.”

Pacing the evolution and transformation of these versatile ships, generation after generation of dedicated and

innovative destroyer Sailors have capitalized on teamwork, courage and dedication to excel in a variety of

tasks, including convoy duty, anti-submarine patrol,

shore bombardment, area air defense and precision

strike. Read the history of any number of battles over the

last century, and you will find destroyers out front,

where the action is, using superior tactics, speed,

warfighting skill and more than a little audacity to take

the fight to the enemy. Destroyer sailors have done it all,

and they have done it with distinction.

United States Navy destroyers have a proud history,

but more importantly, they have a bright future. The vanguard of our 21st century surface force will be the next

generation destroyer — DD(X). As the first in a family of

transformational new surface combatants, DD(X) will

pack a more powerful punch than any of its predecessors

and bring new and transformational capabilities to the

fleet. Joining DD(X) to provide a balanced total force will

be the advanced cruiser CG(X) and the agile and versatile

littoral combat ship (LCS). These ships together with our

in-service Aegis ships will ensure our Navy’s preeminence well into the 21st century and continue the proud

legacy laid down by destroyers and our surface Navy

over the past century.

As with the long line of destroyers before them, the

success of the DD(X) class will depend on you, the surface warriors who will crew these mighty warships. It is

an exciting time to be a surface warrior. The future is

bright and our mission is clear. As we reflect this year on

the tradition of excellence represented by 100 years of

destroyer service, we must rededicate ourselves to continuing the legacy of the destroyer force... the legacy of

fighting and winning at sea. 

Sail safe and be ready, for it is our turn to stand 

the watch.

RADM Phil Balisle

Director, Surface Warfare
July/August 2002 3

By Dick Cole

Editor in Chief

http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil

Despite our best efforts to preclude

problems with our magazines reaching

the fleet, it seems these problems continue. I’ve discussed this situation with

many of the other military magazines,

and all are experiencing the same problem to varying degrees. As you might

expect, the Navy magazines seem to

have the worst of it. Perhaps that’s

because our publications travel the

longest distances under the roughest

conditions and are moved by less conventional means than the magazines

from the other services. 

We’re concerned about the matter

for several reasons, but pre-eminent

among them is simply that you’re missing out on reading the magazine! 

During the readership survey we

concluded April 30, we found that

many ships and shore stations are having difficulty getting the magazine. If

they do get through the mail system,

they are often in poor condition or are

not of sufficient quantity to meet the

needs of the audience aboard each

ship. Many ships are begging for an

increase in the quantity they receive so

their Sailors would have an easier time

finding a copy.

We’re presently required to distribute the magazine in a ratio of one copy

for each 10 Sailors aboard ship. For

example, we send 30 copies of the magazine to ships with 300 Sailors aboard.

An aircraft carrier might receive as

many as 500-600 copies. When the

magazines are mailed, 50 or fewer

magazines are sent in envelopes while

more than 50 magazines are shipped in

boxes. Both are prone to breaking

open, but the envelopes seem to do so

more frequently.

We’re addressing the issue with the

contractor, which mails our magazines,

and with the United States Postal

Service, in an effort to ensure they get

to you. We’re also trying to more effectively manage the costs of producing

and mailing the magazine.

It would be helpful to hear from

more of the ships when you receive

your magazines. We would especially

like to hear from ships deployed to the

Pacific, Southeast Asia, Japan and the

Indian Ocean. E-mail us at surfwarmag@navsea.navy.mil and tell us what

condition the magazines are in when

you receive them, and when they

arrive at your location.

The awards just keep on coming...

I’m proud to announce that associate editor Stephanie Collins graduated

as the top Navy student in her class at

the Defense Information School June 4.

Collins finished ahead of five other

Navy students – two military and three

civilians — in the public affairs officer

course. Bravo Zulu!

Collins attended the course with 43

U.S. and allied students. The course

provides intensive training in public

affairs, journalism, broadcasting, photojournalism, public speaking and

media relations.

If you’ve been trying to communicate with Collins for the past two

months and haven’t reached her, now

you know why. 

Since the publication of our last

issue, the magazine received a 2002

Dalton Pen Communications Award

Program Award of Merit. The award

recognizes the article “Remembering

the Pueblo: the choices of command,”

published in our March/April 2001

issue. The Dalton Pen Award Program

honors writing, which is especially

clever, effective or inventive. Surface

Warfare now proudly displays the

Dalton Pen logo as evidence of our

dedication to quality journalism.

The Destroyer Centennial

In this issue, we celebrate the 100

years of service by the “Greyhounds 

of the Sea” in the U.S. Navy. We’ve

tried to give you a feel for the glorious

history of the destroyers and their

crews and also inform you about the

contribution they make to today’s 

surface Navy.

Of course, we’ve also included all 

of the usual departments and features

so that this issue will offer something

for everyone. I hope you find it to

your liking!
Missing crests

I congratulate you on your recent

issue (March/April 2002) detailing

the surface fleet. I have one issue to

bring to your attention, though. 

On the reverse of the pullout,

you show the crest from every ship

and every class of ships except the

coastal patrol (PCs) boats. Why?

Please tell me it was a simple oversight and not an intentional omission.

—LT Murry Carter

IT Requirements/Plans Officer

Navy Personnel Command (PERS-33)

Lieutenant, we were unable to get

the crests for the PCs by our publication deadline. We couldn’t get highresolution copies from Special

Warfare Command or the PCs

deployed under Operation Noble

Eagle. Rather than delay the magazine to include the PC crests, we

decided not to include them on the

March/April 2002 poster. We will

ensure they are included when we

revise the poster for publication in a

future issue. – Ed.

What about us?

I read the latest issue of your magazine and was shocked to find two

whole ships missing! 

The Emory S. Land-class of submarine tenders is a dying breed. Only

two remain [USS Emory S. Land, AS

39, and USS Frank Cable, AS 40] to

do the job equal to a ship’s intermediate maintenance activity (SIMA). 

Sailors aboard these ships include

members of the submarine and surface communities working together

to get the job done. These large floating convenience marts service both

submarines and surface ships. 

4 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil Surface Warfare

USS Salt Lake City (SSN 716) gingerly pulls along side USS Frank Cable AS 40), May 23, 2002. Frank Cable

is one of two forward deployed repair ships that provide vital services for submarines while away from their home

ports. Salt Lake City is a Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine homeported out of San Diego. 

(PH2 Alan D. Monyelle/USN) 
July/August 2002 5

Having served as an engineer on a

“small boy” on the east coast, and a

tender overseas, I worked much

harder on the tender. Anyone who

has served on isolated duty like this

knows you are on your own. If you

can’t make it or fix it, you better learn

to do without it. There is no Defense

Resource Management Office to run

to or “Serve Mart” to shop at.

Nowhere can you run to the next pier

and see if they have what you need. 

Everything we receive, from the

diesel engine parts for the CO’s gig to

the food eaten while underway, is

sent by “snail mail.” Everyone aboard

must be proficient in his or her job for

the ship to complete its mission. 

Tenders truly support the fleet

with long hours underway. Hitting

ports is also different for auxiliary

ships. We don’t often pull into a port

for liberty. We pull into a port to

service a ship that is there for liberty.

Much of a tender crew’s work begins

when the ship ties up. There is no

rest for the weary. 

After a month-long underway,

tenders typically return to their

home port and begin planning their

next one. 

The list of ships underway requiring repair or supplies is long, and the

“ship alongside” always receives first

priority. If the tender only has one

handle left for a valve they are

repairing, and the unit alongside

needs it, guess who gets it? That’s

right! And that is the tender’s mission – ensuring they always have a

satisfied customer. 

Imagine all that the SIMA does in

Norfolk or San Diego. Now, cut the

manning in half and put them on a

ship in the middle of nowhere with

limited access to equipment, tools and

spare parts. Now you have a tender.

In excluding Frank Cable in Guam

and USS Emory S. Land in Sardinia,

you failed to recognize more than

2,700 Sailors working hard on ships

older than the average person enlisting today. Please give them the credit

they deserve.

JO3(SW) Danielle Letina

The Flagship

Hampton Roads, Va.

JO3 Letina, I could not have done

a better job of explaining or praising

the important contribution of the

submarine tenders than you have.

There was considerable debate

among the staff of the magazine

about what ships should be

included in the March/April issue’s

examination of “Today’s Surface

Navy,” and we elected not to

include vessels assigned to the

Military Sealift Command or the

submarine tenders. 

We were not trying to ignore the

important contributions of these

ships to the Navy. Rather, we were

focusing exclusively on the “surface

combatant” ships most likely to

operate in conjunction with today’s

carrier battle groups and amphibious ready groups. 

The rescue and salvage ships

were included because they provide

aid to surface combatants that have

run aground. They also provide

divers to conduct ship husbandry

repairs and frequently perform towing operations.

The primary mission of the submarine tenders is to provide at-sea

support to the ballistic-missile submarine fleet. The ships operate under

the Commanders of the Submarine

Forces Atlantic and Pacific rather

than surface commands. This was

another reason I decided not to

include them in our last issue. – Ed. 

Are you sure about

Coronado?

Your article about miscellaneous

command ships that appeared in the

March/April issue (“Miscellaneous

Command Ships: ‘Gators’ in new

skins”) is accurate, but there are

errors in your writing. You state USS

Coronado (AGF 11) became the flagship for the 6th Fleet rather than the

3rd Fleet in Gaeta, Italy, but I believe

she never did. 

Following USS La Salle’s (AGF

3) overhaul in 1994, it relieved USS

Belknap as the flagship for 6th Fleet. 

I agree with some of the people

who shared their opinions of the best

platform to serve on in “Feedback

from the Fleet.” Having been stationed on a Charles F. Adams-class

guided-missile destroyer, Yellowstone-class AD, Spruance-class

destroyer, USS La Salle, a Whidbey

Island-class dock landing ship, and

Wasp-class amphibious assault ship,

I find the LHD gives you a smoother

ride and more spacious living conditions than any other ship but an LSD.

At least on the LSD, there are separate lounges instead of combined

berthing/lounge.

You learn the other rates on the

smaller boys and get to know most of

the crew over a period of time. Like

so many others stated, they’re better

than a carrier.

— OS1(SW) William Sanders

USS Wasp (LHD 1)

Petty Officer Sanders, you are

correct that La Salle was refitted in

1994 and relieved Belknap as the 6th

Fleet flagship in early 1995. She

underwent an extensive overhaul in

Toulon, France, from June to

http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil
6 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil Surface Warfare

December 1999 and is presently

stationed in Gaeta, Italy.

Coronado was converted

to a flagship in 1980, then

relieved La Salle so it could be

overhauled. Coronado did

serve as 6th Fleet flagship for

three years before being transferred to 3rd Fleet in July 1986.

– Ed.

Bravo Zulu

My compliments to each

of you on the quality of the

March/April issue. I think you

guys are gradually surpassing

All Hands.

— JOC William Polson

USS Tarawa (LHD 1) 

public affairs

Let’s remember

the Knox-class

It would be appropriate for

the surface warfare community

to support the establishment of

a Knox-class frigate as a ship

memorial. The 46 ships of the

class represented a large Cold

War class, which made a significant contribution to keeping

the peace and patrolling the

oceans. The class was large

enough to be the model at

Surface Warfare Officer School

Command, Naval Education

and Training Center, Newport,

R.I., where many of us received

our basic SWO engineering

training, then returned for

department head (destroyer)

school and subsequent training.

Is there any effort being

made to preserve examples of

this class?

— LCDR Neal Jefferis,

USN (Ret.) 

LCDR Jefferis, you needn’t

worry about preserving a

Knox-class vessel as a museum

ship because the lead of the

class (FF 1052) is on donation

hold and has been available for

donation for a number of years

now. The Mare Island Historic

Park Foundation — an organization in Vallejo, Calif. — has

submitted an application for

the ship, and the Ship

Donation Program Office is

working with them on their

application. – Ed. 

‘Tin Cans’...

‘Greyhounds of

the Fleet’...

Destroyers! RADM Arleigh

Burke said it best, “This ship 

is built to fight... you better

know how.”

Fellow destroyer crew members, USS Hopper (DDG 70) is

proud to be protecting our

country and supporting

Operation Enduring Freedom. 

For the past 100 years,

Sailors just like us have sacrificed their lives and lived their

lives aboard destroyers. For

months at a time, we call our

destroyer home. It provides

shelter, adventure, excitement

and a new type of family. It is

505 feet of protection populated by 300 new family members, any of whom would

sacrifice their lives for those of

their shipmates.

The life of a destroyer crew

member is not an easy one, as

we go where the action is. We

are capable of accomplishing

many missions at one time.

We always stay one step

ahead of the game. We do

what has always been done.

We continue the legacy of

those destroyer crew members

of the past by “fighting the

good fight.”

The destroyer is the traditional surface Navy. There is

such a long history behind the

destroyer and her mission. We

protect the fleet. It is plain and

simple. We have the new technology, but our mission is still

the same as those who rode

the “tin cans” during both

World Wars and every conflict

since then.

It is important to remember

the history of the destroyer

because of all the long days,

blood, sweat and tears shed on

the workhorse of the fleet.

Many destroyers have come to

the defense of the Constitution

of the United States, and on the

100th anniversary of the

destroyer, we take this time to

remember the dedicated service of the ship and even more,

the crews who served on them. 

In honor of our namesake

RADM Grace Murray Hopper

and the destroyer men of the

past, present, and future, the

USS Hopper continues to “Dare

and Do.”

—LTJG Courtenay Rogers

USS Hopper public affairs officer

July &

August

Blast from

the Past

1790

1839

1864

1945

1967

Congress creates

the United

States Revenue

Marine — later

to become the

United States

Coast Guard —

on Aug. 4.

CAPT Gedney

of USS

Washington

finds that

Spanish ship

Amistad has

been taken over

by African

slaves, Aug. 26.

Battle of Mobile:

RADM David

Farragut shouts,

“Damn the torpedoes, full

speed ahead,”

Aug. 5.

The heavy

cruiser, USS

Indianapolis,

(CA 35) is sunk

by Japanese submarine I-58.

Only 318 members of the 1,100

aboard survive

— most dying in

shark attacks or

by succumbing

to the elements,

July 30.

A Zuni rocket

fired from an A4 Skyhawk on

the flight deck

starts a 17-hour

fire aboard USS

Forrestal (CV

59) off the coast

of Vietnam

killing 134

Sailors, July 29.
July/August 2002 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil 7

Feedback 

from the 

Fleet

ack 

from the 

?

?

?

Our question

for Fall 2002

issue is, 

“What is

the mark

of great

leadership?”

If you would

like us to consider publishing

your answer to

the question,

send an e-mail to

surfwarmag@

navsea.navy.mil

no later than

Sept. 15, 2002.

?

?

?

?

Ike 25

The mighty USS Dwight D.

Eisenhower (CVN 69) will be

hosting a 25th anniversary celebration Oct. 14-18 to commemorate the commissioning

of this great warship. “Ike 25”

will be a week-long celebration

including a 5K run at the

Norfolk Botanical Gardens, a

golf tournament at the Golden

Horseshoe Golf Course and a

grand finale gala at Nauticus

in downtown Norfolk. 

For more information, go 

to http://www.navy.mil/

homepages/cvn69 or send an

e-mail to ike25@eisenhower.

navy.mil. You may also call

(757) 534-1695.

—LTJG Amanda Raymond,

USNR

Assistant Public Affairs Officer

USS Dwight D. Eisenhower

(CVN 69)

Remembering

‘Captain K’

Upon arriving at Surface

Warfare, where I served my last

assignment as military editor

in January 1993, CAPT Ray

Komorowski, or “Captain K”

as we called him, introduced

me to the history of the magazine. At the time, he was serving as a consultant to the

editorial board. 

My understanding is that

“Captain K” was the inspiration behind getting the magazine started in 1975 and that he

had a role in creating the surface warfare officer insignia

(he hated it when anyone

called it a “pin”) during the

‘75-‘76 timeframe. 

I think it would be appropriate for all of us to recognize

Ray for his contributions to the

surface Navy.

—Jon Walman

Program Executive Office

Surface Strike

Alumni search

The University of Miami,

Coral Gables, Fla., is seeking

the names 

of active-duty Navy alumni or 

alumni who formerly served in 

the Navy. Contact Bill

Jennewine (bgtd96@aol.com),

as he is trying to locate all veterans of the university and

information on those killed on

active duty. 

The purpose is for a

reunion in 2005 and the dedication of a memorial for those

who died on active duty. 

— Bill Jennewine

bgtd96@aol.com

614 Sandy Creek Dr.

Brandon, Fla. 3353

Former editor dies

Retired Navy CAPT Raymond Komorowski, 76, died May 28 at Virginia Hospital CenterArlington after a stroke. Komorowski was the civilian editor in chief of Surface Warfare from

September 1976 until August 1977. He also helped to shape the focus and content of Surface

Warfare while serving on the editorial board through the early 1990s. 

Komorowski served for 30 years in the Navy before retiring in 1975. He was the commander

of the guided-missile cruiser USS Boston (CAG 1) in combat operations off the coast of Vietnam

in 1969, for which he received a Bronze Star. He also commanded a destroyer escort and 

a destroyer.

His shore billets included duty as public information officer for a cruiser-destroyer force in

the Atlantic Fleet, an assignment to the Navy’s office of legislative affairs and work in the Office

of the Chief of Naval Operations. He had also been the chief of the NATO branch in the office of

the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Survivors include his wife of 52 years, Mary Ellen, five children and seven grandchildren. 
8 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil Surface Warfare

By JOC Bill Johnson-Miles

Managing Editor
July/August 2002 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil 9

he history of the destroyer is the story of rugged Sailors

and their gallant ships in foaming seas making haste to

go in harm’s way. But the story isn’t just about these

“Greyhounds of the Sea,” it’s also about the “Tin Can”

Sailors who have manned destroyers for 100 years.

“Throughout the years, destroyermen have been a proud

breed,” said retired ADM Arleigh Burke in the 1962 book

Destroyer -– 60 Years. “They have achieved distinction and the

T
10 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil Surface Warfare

respect of their fellow Sailors through

their performance and their ability to

do anything asked of them. No task

has been too difficult for them to

tackle. They have plunged into each

new requirement with the zest of an

arduous and dedicated advocate.

Through a combination of such advocacy, enthusiasm, hard work, and

ability, destroyermen have carried on

the tradition of seafaring men that

has been a characteristic of

Americans since the inception of this

great nation.”

Burke, who passed away in 1996,

is a former Chief of Naval

Operations, but he is probably better

known as the commodore of the

“Little Beavers,” the eight ships of

Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 23

which “fought their tails off” in the

Solomons campaign during 

World War II. 

In November 1943, from the

bridge of his flagship USS Charles

Ausburne (DD 570), Burke led several

successful attacks against many

Japanese warships. During that one

month, the ships of DESRON 23 sank

one enemy cruiser, nine destroyers,

one submarine and several small vessels, and shot down 30 planes. For

nine months, they battled their way

up the Solomons, leaving a trail 

of destruction.

It’s achievements like this that fill

the U.S. Navy’s destroyer history

books, a history that began in 1902

with the commissioning of 11 torpedo boat destroyers. The first of

these ships to be commissioned was

USS Decatur (Torpedo-Boat

Destroyer No. 5) on May 19, but the

honor of being the first American

destroyer is usually given to USS

Bainbridge (Torpedo-Boat Destroyer

No. 1), which the Navy commissioned Nov. 24. By the end of 1911,

there were 36 destroyers in the fleet,

and by World War I, there would be

many more.

Within a month after the U.S.

entered World War I, six destroyers

rushed from Boston to Queenstown,

Ireland, to help the British stop the

German U-boats (submarines). They

arrived May 4, 1917, and immediately,

VADM Sir Lewis Bayly of the Royal

Navy, thinking the Americans may

need days or even weeks in which to

train or perhaps put their ships

through overhaul, asked the dreaded

question, “How soon will you be

ready to go out on patrol?”

The commander of the U.S.

destroyers, CDR J.K. Taussig, gave the

historic reply, “We are ready now, sir!” 

The six destroyers immediately

went on patrol, and before the war

ended, the U.S. destroyer force in

European waters expanded to 80

ships. They did an outstanding job,

tangling with U-boats in 250 actions

while only losing one destroyer, USS

Jacob Jones (DD 61) and 64 members

of the ship’s crew. Destroyers also

guarded the transatlantic crossings of

two million men, without the loss of

a single life or a single transport ship.

CAPT Arleigh Burke, commander of Destroyer Squadron 23, aboard USS Charles Ausburne (DD 570)

during World War II as painted by Albert Murry. (Naval Historical Center/USN)
July/August 2002 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil 11

The next world war resulted in the

loss of many more destroyers, 71

according to the 1996 book Blood on

the Sea by Robert Parkin. But the

Navy lost more then just ships, as 

Tin Can crew members made up 

a good portion of the 37,000 American

Sailors who gave the ultimate 

sacrifice during World War II.

Most of those Sailors and ships

were lost to suicidal plane attacks

called kamikazes. During the U.S.

invasion of Okinawa in 1945, 150

destroyers and destroyer escorts

(DEs) stationed themselves in a vast

ring around the island, a picket line

to protect Americans from the attacking Japanese air strength. On April 6,

“the full mad hurricane force of the

‘divine wind’ broke over the

destroyer ring like flame and rock

bursting from the crater of an erupting volcano,” said CAPT William

Schofield, author of Destroyers -– 

60 Years. 

By the time the United States finished taking the island in late June,

the inferno of Japanese kamikazes,

mines, submarines and shellfire sent

13 DDs and two DEs to the bottom of

the sea and damaged 118 others,

including USS Kidd (DD 661). A

member of the crew, Joseph Mahoney,

remembered the kamikaze attack.

“It is probably the most eerie and

unnerving form of warfare mankind

has ever inflicted on itself,” Mahoney

told the Louisiana Naval War

Memorial in Baton Rouge, where

Kidd now sits as a memorial ship.

“...You hear droning from the loudspeaker, ‘Air attack is imminent,’

and then, ‘Bogies sighted 35 miles

north and closing.’ Next, the waiting

and the thinking, ‘Thirty-five miles is a

long way off. Don’t kid yourself; it’s only

minutes away — perhaps the last minutes of your life. I’m not ready, too much

I haven’t done yet.’ ... ‘Target sighted,

position four o’clock low on water.

Prepare to fire. Mark!’ Then explosions! Fire! Deafening noise! Acrid

odors! Commands screamed! ‘How

long can this go on? I can’t breathe!

Teeth hurt from grinding; fingers ache

from gripping!’ And then it is over —

for this time. ‘Ah, I am alive; I am

untouched. This is not me; I am not here.

This is not happening to me!’” 

The destroyers did hold their line

under these attacks of incredible fury,

protecting U.S. Marines and Soldiers

on Okinawa. At the high cost of men

and ships, they came through with

glory. Destroyer victories in the

Pacific during World War II greatly

outnumbered the losses, but the victories didn’t come easy for the Sailors 

manning those ships. 

“We have been up at GQ [general

quarters] six nights out of the past

week,” wrote Donald Vick in his

diary on Oct. 3, 1943. “The only sleep

I get is about three or four hours in

the day.”

Vick, a radioman third class

aboard Burke’s Charles Ausburne,

manned one of the 20mm anti-aircraft

guns during GQ. On Nov. 4, he

wrote: “We got two near bomb hits

that threw shrapnel on our fantail

This “flushdeck four piper,” USS Davis (Destroyer No. 65),

arrived in Queenstown, Ireland, May 4, 1917, along with five other

destroyers to help Britain stop German U-boats during World War I.

When the British asked the U.S. commander how long it would be

before they would be ready to fight, the commander historically

replied, “We are ready now, sir!” (NavSource/National Archives)

Nine World War I “Tin Can”

Sailors pose aboard their destroyer.

(Brian Wolff/National Archives)
12 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil Surface Warfare

and dented the bulkheads. Two full

nights of murderous hell with no

sleep, very little food, but who gives

a damn, eight men were hit on 

our fantail.”

Vick passed away in 1998. His

daughter, Nancy Faulk, shared her

feelings about her father and those he

served with.

“I feel proud,” said Faulk. “I feel

humble. I feel astonished by what

they did and how they did it. I 

feel thankful for the freedom 

they secured.”

Not only did destroyers fight for

freedom in the Pacific, they also

made a difference in the Atlantic,

especially during D-Day on June 6,

1944. Late morning found the U.S.

Army pinned down on Omaha beach

with more than 1,000 casualties.

Seeing this, Navy destroyers moved

in close to the beach. Dodging return

fire, and sometimes scraping bottom,

these ships blasted one German position after another and enabled the

American soldiers to move inland.

In testament to these Navy

destroyers, Army Maj. Gen. L.T.

Gerow, the U.S. commander on

Omaha Beach, sent a message to the

operation’s commander, Gen. Omar

Bradley, stating, “Thank God for the

United States Navy.”

There’s hardly any comparison

between World War II and the

Korean War for the U.S. Navy and its

destroyers. In the entire conflict, the

Navy lost only five ships, none of

them destroyers. Coastal gunfire and

mines did damage 73 ships, including 48 DDs and DEs, mostly minor

damage in gunfire duels with 

shore batteries. 

While handling these types of

threats, destroyers carried out critical

missions during the Korean War.

They assisted in minesweeping operations, shore bombardment actions,

amphibious landings and evacuations. They screened carriers and rescued downed Navy pilots. And they

demolished countless shore targets,

including gun emplacements, tank

columns, troop concentrations,

bridges, highways, railroads and

trains. Destroyers also did a lot of the

same kind of work during the

Vietnam War.

“We spent most of our time in the

Tonkin Gulf at Yankee Station and all

along the Vietnam coast north of Da

Nang,” said Rick Broadhead, a former USS Bausell (DD 845) fire control technician. “Our missions

included shelling enemy positions,

plane guard duty with the carriers

and rescue ship station far to the

north in the Tonkin Gulf. Our days

and nights were spent interdicting

coastal shipping and destroying

enemy supply vessels. Our northern

operations included refueling Sea

King ‘choppers’ sent on rescue missions for downed pilots in the vicinity of Hanoi and disrupting VC [Viet

Cong] supply routes to the south.

Most patrols involved well over 30

days on station non-stop, and this

‘Greyhound of the fleet’ had some

holes put in her by hostile gunfire.”

Edwin Finney also served in the

Vietnam War, as an officer aboard

USS Waldron (DD 699) from 1967 to

1969. He’s not the first destroyerman

in his family; his father commanded

USS Harlan R. Dickson (DD 708)

from 1951 to 1953.

“I certainly feel proud to have

been a destroyerman and be a ‘card

carrying member’ of Tin Can

Sailors,” said Finney, who works in

the photographic section of the Naval

“Tin Can” Sailors watch as USS Dunlap (DD

384) fires a torpedo July 3, 1942. 

(National Archives)

USS Buchanan (DD 484) rides alongside USS Wasp (CV 7) to refuel,

while en route to the Guadalcanal-Tulagi invasion area in August 1942.

(National Archives/USN)
July/August 2002 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil 13

Historical Center in Washington, D.C.

“I think this came about quite naturally, growing up in a Navy family

with my father, my uncle Earl and

my grandfather all having been surface line officers.... It may sound silly,

but in high school, I kept an eight by

10 black and white glossy photo of

DD 708 steaming at high speed with

‘a bone in her teeth’ taped up in my

locker. I got what I wanted — service

in an old but good destroyer!” 

Old and new destroyers have been

in a number of actions since the

Vietnam War. In the 80’s, four

destroyers took out a pair of Iranian

command and control platforms in

the Arabian Gulf after Iran attacked a

reflagged Kuwait supertanker.

During Operation Desert Storm, they

launched Tomahawk land-attack cruise

missiles into Iraq, and destroyers did

the same into Yugoslavia and

Afghanistan in more recent actions. 

Today, Tin Can Sailors search merchant ships for military contraband,

help to enforce the “no fly” zone over

Iraq, evacuate American citizens

from dangerous situations abroad

and provide humanitarian aid to

nations that have endured natural

disasters. Also today, Tin Can Sailors

are both male and female.

“Growing up, I heard a lot about

Tin Can Sailors from my dad who was

a World War II Sailor,” said

BMCS(SW) Juanita Rozar of USS

Bulkeley (DDG 84). “When I first came

in the Navy in 1981, I was told by the

‘salty old boatswain’s mates’ there was

no way women would ever be

allowed to sail [aboard] destroyers.”

In 1995, the Navy opened up

destroyers to women, and the day

after the message came out, Rozar

asked her detailer for a billet. The

Navy put her into the “Women at

Sea” program, and she became one 

of the first women to serve aboard 

a destroyer.

“I checked aboard USS Barry

(DDG 52) on April 5, 1996,” stated

Rozar. “It’s one of the proudest days

of my career. The second proudest

day was the commissioning of

Bulkeley.... Both ships have been the

highlight of my career, and both

carry my fondest memories....”

Bulkeley is one of 54 destroyers

currently in the Navy’s active fleet,

much less than its high of 377 Tin

Cans in 1945. More than 1,000

destroyers have sailed the world’s

oceans and seas in the vessel’s 

century-long history.

“It is important to remember the

history of the destroyer because of all

the long days, blood, sweat and tears

spent on the work horse of the fleet,”

said LTJG Dwight Davis of USS

Hopper (DDG 70). “Many destroyers

have been spent defending the

Constitution of the United States, and

especially on the 100th anniversary of

the destroyer, we should take time to

remember the dedicated service of

the ship and even more, the crews

who served on them.”

“Earning the title ‘destroyerman’

is accompanied with a long history of

strength and stability as the name

itself sounds,” said FC2(SW) Kenneth

Ryan of USS O’Brien (DD 975). “The

opportunity to be directly associated

with this history is an honor....

Destroyers have engraved their signatures in history books and continue to be an ever-present asset in

creating history. Remembering their

toll in history is important, but I feel

equal or more impressive feats are

still yet to come.”

“Destroyermen have established

enviable records of achievement,”

stated Burke. “And they are still

steaming toward unknown horizons

where developments of the future

wait for discovery.”

The crew of USS Hopper (DDG 70) celebrates the 100th anniversary of the U.S. destroyer while supporting Operation Enduring Freedom in the Arabian Gulf.

(AW2 Moore/USN)
14 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil Surface Warfare

hroughout their first 100

years, U.S. Navy destroyers

established a proud record of

service participating in every major

military conflict of the past century

and currently serving in the war 

on terrorism. 

Celebrations commemorating the

destroyer centennial began in

January and will continue through

the remainder of the year. From balls

and reunions to the issuance of a

commemorative coin and the production of a special centennial flag,

the centennial celebrations continue

to honor destroyers, past and present, and the Sailors who served

aboard them.

The Surface Navy Association

(SNA) began the centennial celebration with the presentation of the

destroyer centennial flag to the leaders of the Navy’s surface fleet,

VADM Timothy LaFleur,

Commander, Naval Surface Forces;

RADM Jay Foley, Commander, Naval

Surface Force, Atlantic (SURFLANT);

and RADM Phil Balisle, Director,

Surface Warfare, at the association’s

annual convention in January. The

red, white and blue flag depicts three

distinct classes of destroyers. 

“Its design reflects the lineage of

destroyers from Bainbridge to

Burke,” said Balisle. “Its colors symbolize the freedom for which

destroyer Sailors have given their

lives, and sometimes their ships,

over a century of conflicts. This flag

will serve as a symbol of destroyer

history while commemorating the

sacrifices past.” 

Balls commemorating and celebrating the destroyer centennial are

occurring throughout the fleet. On

May 18 in Newport, R.I., the Surface

By John Albrighton

Director, Surface Warfare public affairs

RADM Jay Foley (left), Commander, Naval Surface Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, presents a framed

destroyer centennial flag to Destroyermen’s Ball guest speaker VADM J. Cutler Dawson, Commander,

U.S. Second Fleet. (SURFLANT public affairs/USN)

T
July/August 2002 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil 15

Warfare Officers’ School (SWOS) held

a ball with ADM Vernon Clark, Chief

of Naval Operations, as the guest

speaker. SWOS kicked off their year

of destroyer events aboard the historic USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. (DD

850), with a wreath-laying ceremony

in January. 

The Newport chapter of the SNA

also co-sponsored a Destroyer

Centennial 5K Run, and Rhode

Island declared Nov. 24

“Destroyermen’s Day” to honor the

commissioning of Bainbridge, the

lead ship in the inaugural class of

U.S. destroyers.

Two weekends after the SWOS

ball in Rhode Island, Foley hosted

the SURFLANT Destroyermen’s Ball

in Norfolk, Va., on May 31. 

“Tonight, we honor the men and

women who have served in destroyers in decades past, or on watch now

and serving our nation at the tip of

the spear to defend our right and our

ability to gather at functions like this

every night across this great nation,”

said Foley at the ball.

SURFLANT also sponsored a

bronze coin designed in honor of the

centennial. The coin features silhouettes of the destroyers Bainbridge

and Burke along with the phrase

“100 Years of Excellence at Sea” and

one of the destroyers’ earliest nicknames “Greyhounds of the Fleet.”

Destroyer Squadron 31 in Pearl

Harbor, Hawaii, also honored these

“Greyhounds” with a destroyer ball

May 31. They hosted this celebration at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel

overlooking the blue waters of 

the Pacific. 

In April, the United States Navy

Memorial in Washington, D.C.,

unveiled an exhibit honoring the

destroyer centennial in conjunction

with its annual Blessing of the Fleet

ceremony. This yearlong exhibit is

comprised of large wall panels

adorned with a chronology of

destroyers, ship photos and illustrations depicting destroyer history. 

Fort Lauderdale, Fla., also commemorated destroyer history when it

welcomed a number of the Atlantic

Fleet’s destroyers during its Fleet

Week celebration April 29 to May 5.

The celebration included a Destroyer

Centennial Gala, which honored

destroyers past and present with a

video presentation and a display of

destroyer ship models loaned by the

Naval Sea Systems Command.

The Naval Order of the United

States is examining the historical significance and impact of the destroyer

during its annual congress this

October in Houston.

One of the Navy’s newest destroyers, the pre-commissioning unit

McCampbell (DDG 85), will commemorate the destroyer centennial

during its August commissioning

ceremony in San Francisco, Calif. 

A number of destroyer veterans’

associations are also planning to

commemorate the centennial as part

of their 2002 reunions. More details

on these events can be found through

the Tin Can Sailors Association 

website at www.destroyers.org.

Additional information about

these events and general details

about the Navy’s destroyer centennial can be found at the Destroyer

Centennial website: http://

surfacewarfare.navy.mil/

destroyercentennial.

(JO1 Paul Taylor, SURFLANT public

affairs, contributed to this article.)

YN1(AW) Mark Krizovski of Naval Surface Warfare Center Headquarters checks out the Destroyer

Centennial display at the Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C. (JOSN James Zike/USN)
16 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil Surface Warfare

estroyer Sailors who recently

deployed to the U.S. 6th Fleet

in the Mediterranean Sea can

take pride knowing they upheld a

century of gallant history and tradition with the huge success of their 

recent deployments.

When the global war on terrorism

began in September, the men and

women serving aboard USS Hayler

(DD 997), USS Ross (DDG 71) and

USS Ramage (DDG 61) distinguished

themselves by shouldering almost

the entire operational workload in

the Mediterranean for the majority of

their six months away from home.

“Since 9-11, we’ve had a very

reduced presence in 6th Fleet,” said

CDR Carl Cramb, surface operations

officer for Commander, U.S. 6th Fleet,

homeported in Gaeta, Italy. “The

By JO1(SW) Jason Thompson

6th Fleet public affairs

USS Hayler (DD 997)

and USS Ross (DDG 71)

approach a suspicious 

vessel to conduct a compliant maritime interception 

operation in the international waters of the Eastern

Mediterranean Sea. 

(JOC Al Bloom/USN)

USS Ramage (DDG 61), operating in international waters in the Eastern Mediterranean, conducted a compliant maritime

interception operation after intercepting a suspicious vessel approximately 26 nautical miles northeast of Cyprus. Compliant boarding operations are done in cooperation with the ship’s master and crew and are designed to ensure the safety and welfare of 

legitimate merchant shipping. (6th Fleet/USN)

D
July/August 2002 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil 17

ships that would have been operating

here in the Mediterranean were

ordered to 5th Fleet to support

Operation Enduring Freedom. That left

only three destroyers behind to take

care of all the day-to-day operational

requirements in the Mediterranean.” 

Reducing Naval forces to three

main platforms not only represents a

dramatic change, but an enormous

challenge. The Global Naval Force

Presence Policy, which determines

the number, makeup and duration of

each theater’s “big-deck” presence

(i.e. carrier battle groups and 

amphibious readiness groups),

typically allocates a much larger

proportion of assets for the 6th Fleet

area of operation. 

“Everything has fallen to three 

surface combatants,” said Cramb.

“During that time frame, Hayler,

Ross and Ramage, under the superb

direction of Destroyer Squadron 28,

carried a heavy load and did a 

great job.”

Cramb attributes the destroyers’

success in filling the vacuum of

operational forces to the two factors

that have allowed destroyers to 

serve with distinction for 100 years;

the destroyer’s capability as a

flexible, multitask platform and 

the dedication of highly-trained,

motivated Sailors.

“The destroyer is a multiwarfare

surface combatant that can do it all,”

said Cramb. “But the key element

that makes any ship successful is its

crew. What we saw out here with

these three destroyers was a group of

extremely competent Sailors who,

when given a mission, went out to do

it and did it well. When you’ve got

such a capable platform and such a

capable group of young men and

women pulling it all together —

ships succeed.”

“We are a well-integrated team,”

said CDR Mark Hellstern, Hayler’s

“What we saw

out here with

these three

destroyers was

a group of

extremely 

competent

Sailors who,

when given a

mission, went

out to do it and

did it well.” 

— CDR Carl Cramb, 

U.S. 6th Fleet

Phone talker SN Xiomaria Garcia-Lopey keeps the

USS Hayler (DD 997) bridge aware of boat deck operations while deployed in the Mediterranean Sea.

(Blake Borsic/USAF)
http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil

commanding officer. “I think that we

are capable of doing just about any

mission assigned to us.”

In addition to conducting multilateral and bilateral exercises, port

visits and other activities to support

6th Fleet’s efforts to build cooperation with nations bordering the

Mediterranean and Black Seas, the

destroyers were tasked with 

planning and conducting maritime

interception operations (MIOs). 

According to Cramb, MIOs ensure

the safety and welfare of legitimate

merchant shipping and deny the

Mediterranean to anyone who would

use it for any activities associated

with terrorism. 

“The goal is to disrupt and

degrade a terrorist organization’s

ability to utilize sea lanes as a method

for transferring people, money or

materials and deter them from doing

it in the future,” said Cramb.

Since Jan. 9 of this year, 6th Fleet

units have conducted several compliant boardings of merchant vessels in

the Mediterranean. 

“We are ready to execute a MIO

whenever the need arises,” said

Hellstern, a Cleveland native who

has served aboard two other destroyers during his Navy career. “While

the focus of our mission hasn’t really

changed, 9-11 has resulted in an

increased emphasis on MIOs and

force protection.” 

“The training we conducted 

prior to 9-11 enabled us to very

quickly ramp up our level of awareness and security,” said FCC(SW)

Craig Van Effen of Escanada, Mich., a

Hayler crew member familiar with

MIO procedures. “The exercises we

performed with our destroyer

squadron allowed us to execute our

boardings flawlessly.” 

Whether performing interception

operations or any number of the

more traditional activities of forward

presence, the destroyer’s flexibility

and capability to carry out a wide

range of missions filled the void in

the Mediterranean and has been the

platform’s century-long hallmark.

And that’s something destroyer

Sailors can be mighty proud of.

A Sailor aboard USS Ross (DDG 71) stands look-out during a recent maritime interception operation in

the Eastern Mediterranean. (6th Fleet/USN)

USS Ross (DDG 71) crew members prepare to launch a rigid-hull inflatable boat while operating in

the Eastern Mediterranean. (6th Fleet/USN)

18 Surface Warfare
July/August 2002 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil 19

R 080514Z APR 02

FM COMSIXTHFLT

TO COMDESRON TWO EIGHT

INFO CINCUSNAVEUR LONDON UK

CINCUSNAVEUR LONDON UK

COMNAVSURFLANT NORFOLK VA

COMSECONDFLT

COMCARGRU EIGHT

BT

UNCLAS //N00000//

MSGID/GENADMIN/COMSIXTHFLT/00/APR//

SUBJ/FAREWELL AND BRAVO ZULU//

RMKS/

1. TO COMMODORE MURPHY AND THE DESRON 28 TEAM, AS YOU PREPARE

FOR RTHP LET ME OFFER A PERSONAL WELL DONE FOR A SUPERB DEPLOYMENT. THE SHIPS OF DESRON 28 MET EVERY CHALLENGE AND COMMITMENT

WITH UNMATCHED PROFESSIONALISM AND MAINTAINED THE HIGHEST STATE

OF WAR FIGHTING READINESS, WHICH DIRECTLY REFLECTS THE LEADERSHIP AND TRAINING PROVIDED BY YOUR STAFF.

2. UNDER YOUR DIRECTION AS MARITIME INTERCEPTION COMMANDER FOR

THE MEDITERRANEAN, BOARDINGS ON SEVEN SUSPECTED TERRORIST

RELATED VESSELS WERE FLAWLESSLY PLANNED AND SAFELY EXECUTED.

VALUABLE INTELLIGENCE REGARDING POTENTIAL TERRORIST RELATED MERCHANT SHIP OPERATIONS, INCLUDING THE DETECTION OF PREVIOUSLY

UNKNOWN SUSPICIOUS OPERATING PATTERNS WAS BUT ONE IMPORTANT

RESULT OF THESE OPERATIONS. THE DESRON 28 TEAM S EFFORTS SIGNIFICANTLY ENHANCED U.S. KNOWLEDGE ABOUT AND UNDERSTANDING OF SUSPECTED TERRORIST RELATED MERCHANT SHIP ACTIVITY IN THE

MEDITERRANEAN. SERVING AS CTF 60, YOU CLEARLY DEMONSTRATED

WARFIGHTING EXCELLENCE IN EVERY MISSION AREA DURING EXERCISES

NATIONAL TRAINING CONTINUUM, NOBLE SHIRLEY, AND DOGFISH. YOUR

SUPERB PERFORMANCE, AND THAT OF YOUR SHIPS, IN THESE EXERCISES

SERVED TO STRENGTHEN MILITARY-TO-MILITARY TIES WITH MEDITERRANEAN ALLIES. AS LAUNCH AREA COORDINATOR IN EIGHT CAESAR SWORD

TLAM EXERCISES YOU ENSURED STRIKE WARFARE MISSION READINESS IN

THE MEDITERRANEAN WAS HONED TO A KEEN EDGE.

3. EXEMPLARY CONDUCT ASHORE IN NUMEROUS HIGH VISIBILITY PORT

VISITS THROUGHOUT THE MEDITERRANEAN DISTINGUISHED DESRON 28

SAILORS AS OUTSTANDING AMBASSADORS OF GOOD WILL. THESE VISITS

ARE KEY TO FOSTERING POSITIVE RELATIONS BETWEEN HOST NATION CITIZENS AND AMERICAN SAILORS, AS WELL AS SUPPORTING IMPORTANT

SIXTH FLEET ENGAGEMENT INITIATIVES.

4. AS DESRON 28 SAILS HOME TO WELL-EARNED REUNIONS WITH FAMILY

AND FRIENDS, EACH OF YOU CAN BE PROUD OF YOUR MANY SIGNIFICANT

CONTRIBUTIONS TO PEACE AND STABILITY IN THIS VITAL PART OF THE

WORLD.

5. WELL DONE. VADM SCOTT FRY SENDS.//

BT
20 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil Surface Warfare

Why are history and

tradition important to

the Navy?

Feedback from 

the Fleet

Feedback from 

the Fleet

“The United States has the finest Navy the world has ever known. It’s not

due to cutting-edge technology, but rather to the men and women who’ve

given their minds, hearts and lives to building the world’s finest fleet. It is from

them that our Naval heritage and tradition is forged. It is because of them that

we as Americans have our freedom. It is because of them we can summon the

pride and determination that it takes to face our present adversity. Let us instill

Navy pride and core values into our young Sailors so that we as a Navy, as a

country, as Americans can face the future with grit and confidence.”

—ENS Peter Blameuser Jr.

USS Roosevelt (DDG 80)

(The son, grandson and great-grandson of a Sailor!)

“Naval history is an accounting of

the men and women who served

before us and traditions are a way to

keep them and their accomplishments alive. Small traditions can

help us to remember great things.”

—FC2(SW) Tylor Whitt

USS Hopper (DDG 70)

“The history of our Navy, and our

traditions, taught to us how to be a

united Navy following Pearl Harbor.

Imprinted in the core values are

honor, courage and commitment.

This is what brings us together in the

time of need. Shipmates rely on each

other to help in the time of need —

don’t let the ship sink!” 

—SK2(SW) Gregory Hollowell

USS Roosevelt (DDG 80)

“Those who forget history are

doomed to repeat it. Traditions

honor those who have served before

us and remind us of their sacrifices.”

—ET3 Joshua Dempsey

USS Roosevelt (DDG 80)

“History is important because it

reminds us of the sacrifices Sailors

have made in the past. Tradition is

inspiring and drives today’s Sailor to

excel above his or her capabilities.”

—GM2(SW) Nelson Ramos

USS Roosevelt (DDG 80)

“History repeats itself and teaches

us what not to do. Tradition is the

foundation to build on to keep 

things simple.”

—QMC(SW) Jeremiah Blackwell

USS Roosevelt (DDG 80)

“Look at it this way, no matter

how mundane or monotonous, each

day is a part of history. [It] is important because the one factor about history is that we can learn from it. [We

can] learn from our mistakes and

focus on our triumphs. 

Tradition is another factor that

makes us what we are. It gives us

our strength, our hopes, our freedoms and our values. 

This is what history and traditions

say to me. I believe in our system of

justice, I believe our government

works for the best interest of the

American people, and anybody that

has chosen to serve honorably and

proudly in any branch of the military

has done the best thing that he or

she can do to preserve our history

and our traditions.”

—QM2 Christopher Chesnut

USS Higgins (DDG 76) 

“They keep in touch with where

we came from and help us not lose

sight of where we are going.”

—IT2 Kyleen Abel

USS Roosevelt (DDG 80)
July/August 2002 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil 21

July/August 2002

“History is who we are, where we

come from and how we got here.

History reminds us of our past mistakes and keeps us from repeating

them. Tradition, on the other hand, is

that little string wrapped around our

pinky that constantly reminds us not

to forget.”

—OSCS(SW/AW) Victor A. Collazo

Operations Department 

Leading Chief Petty Officer

USS Wasp (LHD 1)

“That fact that we learn from the

mistakes and triumphs of past conflicts has contributed to the Navy’s

success during WWII and still is

[helping] today during our conflict in

Afghanistan and the war on terrorism. History helps us ‘know our

enemy,’ which, according to Sun Tsu,

is one of the basic and most important necessities of successful

warfighting.”

—EW2(SW) William Kegley 

USS Roosevelt (DDG 80)

“Why are history and tradition

important in the Navy? History is

important because it prepares us for

the future. It teaches us what we did

wrong, what we did right and why

we do what we do today. It also lets

us remember those who contributed

and changed the Navy and the

world. Tradition is important

because it demonstrates respect and

honor. It supports history and

passes on a ‘belief’ from our shipmates in the past.” 

—DTC(SW/FMF) Norman 

“Kimo” Cruz

USS Bridge (AOE 10)

“History and tradition are important to the Navy because they bring

heritage and pride. From our history

come inspiring men like John Paul

Jones. Our heritage is filled with a

history of hard work and respect.

Our traditions inspire Sailors and are

important for continuity. History

teaches us and tradition sustains us.”

—FCCM(SW) Joel Timm

USS Hopper (DDG 70)

“History is important to the Navy

because it teaches us lessons and

gives us insights into what is

expected of us and what we can

expect from our shipmates. We can

feel pride in the accomplishments of

our past and know that we are writing history for future generations of

Sailors. Tradition has set us apart

from common citizens in the ways

we do things.” 

—OS1(SW) Samuel Towery

USS Boone (FFG 28)

“Naval history is important to military personnel and civilians alike.

Our history is one of change in the

boundaries of race and equal opportunity. Because of this change, we

can defend, as a mighty nation, the

United States of America, maintain

the freedom of the seas and protect

our allies and those without the

means to defend themselves.”

—ABH1(AW) Cornell Walthour

USS George Washington (CVN 73)

“History drives the expectations and motivations for today’s Navy. It gives us the reasons to continue doing what

we do so well. It reminds us that nothing is ever free and the most important things in life are worth fighting for.

Tradition binds us. The past, the present and the future are bound by traditions cherished and passed on from generation to generation. It creates a feeling of unity between the ideas and values of those that have fought and died before

us and establishes the core values for those that will follow in our footsteps. Only the great traditions last. Our Naval

traditions will last forever.”

—ENS Carla Fornelos

USS Roosevelt (DDG 80)
22 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil Surface Warfare

By LTJG John Perkins

Task Force 76 public affairs

An amphibious assault vehicle (AAV) of the 31st

Marine Expeditionary Unit enters USS Fort McHenry’s

(LSD 43) well deck. The AAVs, embarked aboard USS

Juneau (LPD 10), were conducting well deck training for

the Sailors and Marines of both ships. 

(JO3 Wes Eplen/USN)
July/August 2002 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil 23

our forward-deployed

amphibious ships recently

concluded a Blue-Green exercise as part of the same amphibious ready group (ARG) for the first time

since June 2000.

USS Essex (LHD 2), USS Juneau

(LPD 10), USS Germantown (LSD 42)

and USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43),

embarked by the 31st Marine

Expeditionary Unit (MEU), got

underway from the White Beach

Naval Facility to take part in an integrated amphibious exercise off the

coast of Japan.

ARGs normally deploy from the

United States with three ships,

according to CAPT Andy Karakos,

commander of Amphibious

Squadron 11 (COMPHIBRON 11). 

“We have four ships forwarddeployed to Sasebo [Japan], so we 

can operate a three-ship ARG while

one [ship] is undergoing routine

maintenance and upkeep.”

What makes having the fourth

ship available for a Blue-Green

exercise so special?

“The fourth ship gives us an extra

flight deck and well deck to conduct

training and the opportunity to train

another ship and its crew,” Karakos

said. “Each of the four ships are routinely experiencing turnover in

personnel. A fourth ship at BlueGreen workups enables each ship to

build upon its existing corporate

knowledge and experience level.”

“The importance of Blue-Greens is

to learn how we [and the Marines]

operate so that we can combine to

become an efficient fighting force

during amphibious operations,” said LT Nathan Moyer, Fort McHenry’s

first lieutenant. “Marines are our pri-

mary offensive weapon, and the more

we practice with them and hone each

other’s skills, the better we all are.”

The training that Sailors receive

during Blue-Green exercises helps

minimize the danger to life, limb and

equipment posed by the combination

of ship, sea and landing craft.

“During Blue-Green workups,

you’re going to see deck department

F
24 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil Surface Warfare

heavily flexed,” said Moyer. “We’re

responsible for all the equipment that

handles the Marines. We’re responsible for the cranes, the flight deck, the

small boats and the well deck, which

becomes an inherently dangerous

environment when we’re conducting

well deck operations.”

Launching an amphibious assault

vehicle, utility landing craft or an 

air-cushioned landing craft is no simple task. It requires perfected skills

and thorough job knowledge by

everyone involved. The flurry of

activity isn’t isolated only to the

flight or well decks. Spilling over to

the rest of the ship’s crew, everyone

aboard gets a taste, and some really

enjoy it.

“You have 18- and 19-year-old

men and women operating a 50-ton

crane lifting ‘Humvees’ and other

Marine equipment onto the deck that

then has to be moved,” Moyer said.

“By the time you’re a third class

boatswain’s mate, you know how 

to run a crane, signal a crane and 

signal cargo around the deck. You’re

a professional rigger, and you know 

all there is to know about the 

preservation of the ship.”

Throughout the ship, day and

night, all Sailors and Marines are

actively involved in operations 

supporting the exercise.

“Some of the engineers prefer to

work at night, because they get to do

a lot of training and hands-on work

that they can’t always do during the

day,” MMC(SW) Donald McDougal

said. “They get more opportunities to

learn the equipment, get more proficient and gain more knowledge

about our rate, which also helps 

them advance.”

Proficiency and in-rate knowledge

open more doors than advancement,

according to McDougal. Every training opportunity leads to more qualified watch standers and more hands

to help with the workload.

“We’re striving to work on qualifications so we can get everybody on a

better work schedule,” he said. 

Life isn’t much different for watch

standers on the bridge, except they

often have a better view of the “midnight oil.”

“The majority of our watch

standers prefer standing watch 

at night, because the schedule is 

not as hectic,” said QMC(SW)

Anthony Hafer. 

Landing Craft Utility 1634 of Assault Craft Unit 1 prepares to enter USS Fort McHenry’s (LSD 43) well deck. (JO3 Wes Eplen/USN)
July/August 2002 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil 25

“Night watch standers get a view of

the starry sky that is unmatched by

any view from shore, and they can

watch the sunrise in the morning.”

Such exercises always include casualty scenarios, and that is where medical department comes into the picture.

Shortly before the workups, Fort

McHenry received a mock medical

evacuation (medevac) flight. As with

the rest of the crew, teamwork plays

a very large part during a medevac.

The crew first assists the pilot in

landing his helicopter. They then

examine the casualties, assess their

conditions, provide initial first aid

and transport them to the ship’s sickbay for further medical attention.

“As it relates to amphibious warfare, generally what happens is casualties come from the beach to the

ship,” said LT Gerald Cooke, Fort

McHenry’s medical officer. “If they

have further surgical needs, those can

be met by large deck ships like Essex.”

By the end of the Blue-Green

workups, there was no doubt that this

forward-deployed Navy and Marine

Corps team was ready to deploy, put

combat-ready Marines on the beach

and bring them home again.

(JOC(SW/AW) Roger Dutcher, USS

Essex public affairs; JO3 Wes Eplen,

Task Force 76 public affairs; and JOSN

Rob Sealover, USS Fort McHenry public affairs contributed to this article.)

USS Fort McHenry’s (LSD 43) deck department Sailors work to secure a utility landing craft of Assault Craft Unit 1 as it

enters the ship’s well deck. Well deck operations were one of the many amphibious training events conducted during BlueGreen workups. (JO3 Wes Eplen/USN)
26 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil Surface Warfare

few months ago, life was probably miserable for the guy in

charge of food inventory

aboard USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20).

Hand-by-hand, he counted hundreds

of thousands of pieces of food

onloaded prior to a two-month 

underway: 5,000 pounds of ground

beef; 1,500 dozen eggs; 3,200 pounds

of bacon; 8,000 pounds of chicken;

3,400 pounds of french fries.... 

Sailors humped 300,000 pounds of

food, totaling more than $450,000,

aboard the 2nd Fleet flagship for five

straight days.

Calorie counters may as well hang

it up — only the mess management

specialists (MSs) knew the dizzying

number of mouths to feed. They

knew, more than anyone, that the

flagship’s population would swell

during Exercise Strong Resolve ’02.

The exercise, conducted every four

years, is one of the largest NATO

exercises ever, and the flagship provided command and control capabilities, a sea-based platform, a top notch

NATO staff and some really good

meals. In all, about 1,200 people

worked aboard Mount Whitney,

manning the ship at 100 percent.

And they all got hungry three

times a day. 

“Flexibility is the operative word

for the MS community,” said MSCS

Jerome Carney. “On this cruise, the

wardroom MSs were tasked to

almost quadruple their work load.

They went from 30 officers to 360

officers and never skipped a beat.”

Numbers in the chief’s mess

swelled, too. 

“We usually have 36 chiefs to 

feed, then we had 115,” said MS3

Oscar Jamerson. 

The command ship did get some

extra help, like MS3(SW) Jermaine

Cotillier from Naval

Station Jacksonville’s

Oasis Galley. 

“This has been a great

learning experience,” he

said. “Serving this many

people was hectic. At first 

we couldn’t quite keep up; it was

killing us!” 

Mount Whitney’s five messes

churned out meals around the clock.

Shift workers could eat any time of

the day or night. The busiest time of

day was lunch, according to Carney,

“unless we served lobster. Then, it

was busy during dinner.

“My MSs never knew what kind

of day their shipmates were having,

and the crew had no idea what kind

of day the MSs were having,” Carney

continued. “The MSs are in the limelight all day long and constantly

under the crew’s scrutiny, especially

during this large an exercise. We’ve

been working just as hard if not

harder than a lot of rates. You have to

remember we are probably the only

rate in the Navy that works 365 days

a year: breakfast, lunch 

and dinner.” 

And during Strong Resolve ’02,

Mount Whitney’s MSs added midnight rations or “midrats” as another

meal. For the mess specialists aboard

Mount Whitney, and the 500-plus

augmentees from 16 NATO nations

and 12 Partnership for Peace Nations

working around the clock, there was

no rest for the hungry. 

MS3(SW) Jermaine Cotillier displays a chicken and fish dinner in the chiefs’ mess aboard USS Mount Whitney

(LCC 20). The mess management specialists worked overtime during Exercise Strong Resolve ’02, supporting an overflowing complement of nearly 1,200 crew, staff and augmentees. (JOC(SW) Robert Benson/USN)

A

By JOC(SW) Robert Benson

USS Mount Whitney public affairs
July/August 2002 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil 27

ecretary of the Navy Gordon

England recently recognized

24 ships for outstanding food

service. He announced the 2002 winners of the CAPT Edward Ney

Memorial Awards during the

International Food Service Executives

Association (IFSEA) conference in

Tampa, Fla.

The Ney Awards recognize quality

food service in the Navy. Key areas

of food service are evaluated by random unannounced inspections of

customer service, restauranteurship,

cleanliness and management.

Independent inspection teams 

are made up of senior Navy mess

management specialists and 

representatives from IFSEA.

First place surface ship galley

awards in the Atlantic Fleet went to

USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71)

(aircraft carrier), USS De Wert (FFG

45) (small afloat), USS Leyte Gulf

(CG 55) (medium afloat) and USS

Bataan (LHD 5) (large afloat).

This is the second consecutive Ney

for the crew of Bataan.

“Winning this award is a rare

honor,” said CWO2 Kerry Stephens,

Bataan’s food service officer.

“Having been an MS (enlisted mess

management specialist) for the first

18 years of my career, I have competed for this award many times —

always coming up short. However,

here on Bataan, I’ve now been part

of two Ney winners — first as a chief

and now as the food services officer.

Being part of a team like this is a

great feeling.” 

In the Pacific, the ships earning first

place surface galley awards were USS

Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) (aircraft

carrier), USS Salvor (ARS 52) (small

afloat), USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG 54)

(medium afloat) and USS Bonhomme

Richard (LHD 6) (large afloat). 

Like Bataan, Bonhomme

Richard’s food service officer is also

a chief warrant officer. According to

CWO2 Kathy Wiseman, winning this

award is the Navy equivalent of a

restaurant earning a five-star rating.

“It’s the largest, most prestigious

food service award and if you’re a

part of winning it once in you’re

career, you’re lucky,” she said. “It

means we have the best team and

that command support, from the captain, the senior supply officer, the

engineering department on down to

the entire crew, has been great.”

Crews aboard other ships also

helped their commands earn recognition. USS Gladiator (MCM 11), USS

Carney (DDG 64), USS George

Washington (CVN 73), USS

Ingraham (FFG 61), USS Cowpens

(CG 63), USS Peleliu (LHA 5) and

USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) received

runner-up Ney awards. 

The only third place award went

to USS Kearsarge (LHD 3), while

USS Samuel Eliot Morison (FFG 13),

USS Monterey (CG 61), USS La

Salle (AGF 3), USS Reuben James

(FFG 57), USS Stethem (DDG 63)

and USS Coronado (AGF 11) earned

honorable mention.

The Navy also recognized USS

Constitution in this year’s Ney

ashore general messes category.

(JO1 Todd Hansen, USS Bataan public affairs; JOC Jon McMillan, USS

Bonhomme Richard public affairs;

USS Curtis Wilbur public affairs; and

Commander, Naval Reserve Force public

affairs made contributions to this article.)

By Naval Supply Systems Command public affairs

USS Theodore Roosevelt’s (CVN 71) MS2

Aaron Riel decorates a cake for the Chaplain Corps’

birthday celebration. Thanks in part to his effort and

the efforts of the rest of Roosevelt’s supply

department, the ship recently earned an Atlantic

Fleet first place surface ship galley Ney award.

(PHAN Phillip Nickerson/USN)

S
28 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil Surface Warfare

riendly competition can

sharpen the crew of a ship in

the same way that rubbing a

knife blade against steel can give it

a finely honed edge. Each year,

every Navy ship competes with 

others in the fleet to win the Battle

Efficiency Award. 

Each ship’s operational proficiency and achievements across a

broad spectrum are judged, and the

best ship in a squadron or group

earns the Battle “E.” The “E” officially recognizes a ship for sustained superior performance in an

operational environment. 

USS San Jacinto (CG 56) led the

way for all surface units as it earned

the award for the ninth consecutive

year. USS Hue City (CG 66), USS

Mitscher (DDG 57), USS

Chancellorsville (CG 62) and USS

Philippine Sea (CG 58) have won at

least three consecutive awards, while

USS Chosin (CG 65), USS Bonhomme

Richard (LHD 6), USS Comstock

(LSD 45), and USS Salvor (ARS 52)

showed their dedication for a second

year in a row.

The tough criteria for winning the

“E” require dedication to more than

just completing the already arduous

day-to-day duties of a ship and crew.

“Winning the Battle ‘E’ is a testimony to a ship and crew who truly

meet the ‘one team, one fight’ concept,” said RADM Willie Marsh,

Commander, Amphibious Group 3

(COMPHIBGRU 3), “and it takes the

full efforts of each Sailor to win 

this award.”

One of COMPHIBGRU 3’s winners, Bonhomme Richard, demonstrated that level of effort. “Bonnie

Dick” served as flagship for two

flagstaffs during Exercise Kernel Blitz

’01, and prepared for and deployed

early in support of Operation

Enduring Freedom. 

“We beat out all the competition,”

said CDR Paul Shock, Bonnie Dick’s

operations officer. “We’re the best

big deck amphib on the West Coast.”

Another ship that won the “E,”

USS Vincennes (CG 49), had nearly

all the time in the world to perfect its

operations, spending 223 days of

2001 underway supporting both regularly scheduled training exercises

and Enduring Freedom.

“We have worked together so

much over the past year, you get the

feeling you are part of a finely-tuned

machine,” said OS3 Jonathon Elosequi

of Vincennes. “In combat, if a person

makes a mistake, there is always

someone there who has your back

and picks up where you left off.”

Vincennes completed two deployments and various exercises during a

full training cycle that spanned the

entire year.

By Naval Surface Force, 

U.S. Atlantic Fleet public affairs

A USS San Jacinto (CG 56) Sailor relays information to the on-scene leader during a fire drill.

Conducting such drills helped “San Jac” win its ninth

consecutive Battle Efficiency Award. (JO1 Joshua

Hudson/USN)

F
July/August 2002 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil 29

“It feels great to receive the

recognition and know all our hard

work has not gone unnoticed,”

said Vincennes crew member IS1

Scott Bouck.

One of two aircraft carriers to win

the “E” made a deviation from its

regularly scheduled six-month

deployment to respond to America’s

distress call. USS Carl Vinson’s (CVN

70) real world operations helped

them secure a Battle “E.” 

“Most battle-ready carriers are

graded on missile shoot performances, hours flown, number of sorties

and their safety records,” said CDR

Michael Manazir, Carl Vinson’s executive officer. “Each department also

has a specific set of requirements it

must meet.” 

Carl Vinson excelled in almost

every category. The medical department was selected “best in the fleet”

for materiel condition and received

an “outstanding” rating in clinical

care, pharmaceutical care and 

medical logistics. 

“In order for us to achieve excellence, we must have total commitment from the crew,” said Manazir.

“We demonstrated our ability to conduct warfare in Operation Enduring

Freedom. I am extremely proud to be

a member of the crew that had that

type of performance.”

(JOC Jon McMillan, USS

Bonhomme Richard public affairs;

USS Vincennes public affairs; and JO2

Galloway Looney, USS Carl Vinson

public affairs contributed to this article.)

USS San Jacinto (CG 56)

USS Hue City (CG 66)

USS Mitscher (DDG 57) 

USS Philippine Sea (CG 58) 

USS Anzio (CG 68) 

USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) 

USS Bataan (LHD 5) 

USS Black Hawk (MHC 58) 

USS Boone (FFG 28) 

USS Carney (DDG 64) 

USS Carter Hall (LSD 50) 

USS De Wert (FFG 45) 

USS Detroit (AOE 4) 

USS Elrod (FFG 55) 

USS Gonzalez (DDG 66) 

USS Grapple (ARS 53) 

USS Mahan (DDG 72) 

USS Monterey (CG 61) 

USS Nashville (LPD 13) 

USS Oscar Austin (DDG 79) 

USS Osprey (MHC 51) 

USS Pioneer (MCM 9) 

USS Ponce (LPD 15) 

USS Ramage (DDG 61) 

USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG 58) 

USS Scout (MCM 8)

USS Shrike (MHC 62) 

USS Ticonderoga (CG 47) 

USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) 

USS Warrior (MCM 10) 

USS Wasp (LHD 1) 

USS Princeton (CG 59) 

USS Chancellorsville (CG 62) 

USS Port Royal (CG 73) 

USS Chosin (CG 65) 

USS Shiloh (CG 67) 

USS Essex (LHD 2) 

USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43) 

USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) 

USS Dubuque (LPD 8) 

USS Comstock (LSD 45) 

USS Boxer (LHD 4) 

USS Salvor (ARS 52) 

USS Rainier (AOE 7) 

USS Wadsworth (FFG 9) 

USS Benfold (DDG 65) 

USS Ingraham (FFG 61) 

USS Vincennes (CG 49) 

USS Jarrett (FFG 33) 

USS Oldendorf (DD 972) 

USS O’Kane (DDG 77)

USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71)

Battle Efficiency Award Winners:
30 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil Surface Warfare

raining is a part of every Sailor’s

life. Day in and day out, every

department on every ship conducts some form of training, from

individual rate and general quarters

training to fleetwide and multiservice/international exercises. 

For Sailors aboard eight Navy

ships, and 25,000 other NATO and

Partnership for Peace (PfP) troops

that were involved in NATO Exercise

Strong Resolve ’02 (SR02), training has

been taken to a new level. 

This year’s Exercise Strong Resolve,

one of NATO’s and PfP’s largest

training exercises since the Cold War,

involved a total 33,000 military personnel. The 26 NATO and PfP

nations conducted the exercise, the

final test of NATO’s four-year training cycle, in Poland, Normandy and

the Baltic Sea.

“Our aim is to rapidly deploy

multinational forces in two simultaneous operations,” said VADM

Cutler Dawson, Commander,

Striking Fleet Atlantic (CSFL). “These

missions encompass the full spectrum of NATO missions. We also

seek to implement and validate

NATO’s afloat CJTF (combined joint

task force) capabilities.”

One scenario involved an Article

Five Operation, taking place in and

around Norway. Article Five mandates the defense of a NATO ally, and

this operation included participation

by 13 NATO countries. The second

scenario involved a Crisis Response

Operation with 19 NATO and 11 PfP

nations participating. 

More than 450 personnel from

Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland,

Latvia, Lithuania, the Slovak

Republic, Romania, Slovenia and

Sweden augmented the CSFL staff.

PfP integration for SR02 was the

highest ever. 

USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20)

operated as the joint command 

center (JCC) for NATO’s sea-based

CJTF during the crisis response operation, the larger of two scenarios.

Together with USS Tortuga (LSD 46)

and the experimental multiservice

high-speed vessel Joint Venture,

(HSV-X1) they acted as an 

amphibious battle group.

USS Donald Cook (DDG 75), USS

Oscar Austin (DDG 79), USS Briscoe

(DD 977) and USS Hawes (FFG 53)

with staff from Destroyer Squadron

22 acted as the opposition force for

the exercise. 

Before SR02 began, Mount Whitney

received additional personnel including U.S. reservists and foreign military members. CSFL personnel

provided them with a shipboard

By Striking Fleet Atlantic public affairs

EW1 Kendall Kilgore loads a chaff launcher on USS Briscoe (DD 977) while en route to the NATO and

Partnership for Peace Exercise Strong Resolve ‘02. (JO1 Kevin Elliott/USN)

T
July/August 2002 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil 31

orientation and training on NATO

operations and all facets of the

upcoming exercise. Combining forces

in this way provided an interesting

opportunity to learn about each

NATO country as well as the mission

at hand.

“It was very enjoyable,” said Petty

Officer Wendy Whitney, from the

United Kingdom’s Royal Navy, who

served as a maritime command and

control information system operator

during the exercise. “I met many different people from all different

nations, and learned a lot.... All of

this gave me a very good insight into

the exercise.”

This exercise was the third in

which American ships have had a

role. For some Sailors, like OS1(SW/

ASW) Harry Sundheimer, a reservist

from Red Hook, N.Y., Strong Resolve

provided another opportunity to

work with an international force.

“Personnel from Bulgaria, Poland

and Uzbekistan are fun to work

with,” said Sundheimer. “Their

standards regarding military life are

similar to ours in certain ways. We

work well together in attempting to

accomplish our goals.” 

One goal of the exercise was completing the testing of Joint Venture

(HSV-X1), a low-cost ship able to perform several different missions from

coastal mine hunting to command

and control. During the exercise, the

ship performed amphibious landings

and transported Marines.

The fleet, the Office of Naval

Research, the Marine Corps Combat

Development Command (MCCDC),

the Navy’s Surface Warfare

Directorate and Naval Sea Systems

Command will review the results of

Joint Venture’s participation in SR02,

according to RADM Robert Sprig,

Commander of Naval Warfare

Development Command. The data

collected will aid the Navy in establishing requirements for future 

shipbuilding programs like the

DD(X) destroyer, the future cruiser or

CG(X), and the littorals combat ship

or LCS(X).

The designers and crew of Joint

Venture weren’t the only ones to

benefit from the exercise, which

provided some excellent international training for all 33,000 

military members.

“This was a great opportunity to

train with our NATO and partner

allies in a realistic environment,”

Dawson said. “The support from all

of the nations involved has been

outstanding, and the exercise

provided beneficial training for 

all participants.” 

USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) was the command ship for NATO's first afloat combined joint task force in

Exercise Strong Resolve ’02. (Navy News Stand/USN)
32 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil Surface Warfare

ince March, the Sailors of the

USS Essex (LHD 2) amphibious readiness group (ARG) and

Marines of the 31st Marine

Expeditionary Unit have shared living

conditions, food, bingo games, small

talk, frustration, smiles, a common

mission and bad weather. 

The ARG recently participated in

Exercise Foal Eagle. All four branches

of the U.S. armed forces obtained

experience operating with each other

and with their Republic of Korea

counterparts through real world scenarios. As in all real world operations,

not everything went according to plan.

“The weather had the biggest

impact, but every operation is

impacted by weather and we overcame that,” said CDR Scott Gordon,

the operations officer for Essex.

“Flexibility is the key to success.”

Every exercise has its own set of

challenges that arise and need to be

“flexed” around. Flexing around an

approaching storm can be difficult 

at times.

“We had a very well developed,

almost record book low storm front.

As it came across, it picked up a lot

of sand from the Gobi Desert in

China and brought it all with it,” said

AG1 Jed Johnson, aboard Essex. “I

have never seen one this intense.”

With a powerful storm brewing on

the horizon, the weather turned from

overcast with a chance for bad

weather to heavy downpours and

high seas. The likelihood of Foal

Eagle flawlessly coming together had

a hitch thrown into it. 

“Unfortunately, as with most plans,

it didn’t work out the way we had it

on paper,” said Marine Maj. Thomas

Smyth, Essex air operations officer.

“We adjusted, looked at the schedule and saw which events we could

complete and which we could not,”

said LTJG Derrick Clark, Amphibious Squadron 11’s Foal Eagle action

officer. “Then we discussed it with

our Korean counterparts and

resolved the situation in a way that

would carry out the training to the

fullest extent possible.” 

Intent on finishing up the exercise,

Koreans and Americans alike rethought what they were able 

to complete. 

“The key to being flexible is communication,” said Gordon. “You start

out with a plan, but you identify what

can go wrong. Up front you say,

‘what’s going to go wrong? Who

should I tell, and how should I overcome this?’ All the players in this case

were developing alternate plans.”

“Not only are we talking about

Korean and U.S. Navy and Marines,

but we’re also talking about Army

and Air Force assets, submarines that

are out there operating, and all the

logistical support on shore from the

An amphibious assault vehicle assigned to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit launches from USS Juneau’s (LPD

10) well deck during a mock amphibious landing. The landing was part of Exercise Foal Eagle, an annual joint and

combined field training and maritime exercise between the armed forces of the United States and Republic of Korea.

(PH3 James Davis/USN)

S
July/August 2002 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil 33

By JO3 Wes Eplen

Task Force 76 public affairs

forces in Korea that are supporting

this exercise,” said Clark.

After completely reworking the

exercise’s plan, a break in the

weather allowed the exercise to continue with the next objective, putting

Marines ashore. As the landing craft

cleared the well deck, Sailors aboard

USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43) honed

their communication and coordination skills between ships of the ARG

and the Korean navy.

A major part of any operation is the

communications between the units

involved. The task of maintaining

constant communications between the

ARG ships became more challenging

than usual because of 14 foreign ships

that were part of Foal Eagle.

“Communications were extremely

different with this operation,” said

OS2 Juan Calloway, who stands

watch in Fort McHenry’s combat

information center. “Our watch

standers were trying to decipher

transmissions in Korean and in

English with strong accents. The difference from normal operations also

provided good first hand training for

junior personnel that most people

can only read about.”

With any international interaction,

the communication barrier between

two people can cause some problems, even with a trained crew interpreting messages and passing 

them on.

The Koreans wanted to bring distinguished visitors to Essex by air for

a tour. They arrived in aircraft that

had not been tested on the ship’s

flight deck; however Essex quickly

adapted to the situation and got the

aircraft safely aboard. 

“We made it work,” said Smyth. “It

shows that the Essex crew members in

the air department really are professionals. They can adapt to a change

readily and make it work out.” 

Remaining flexible though tonguetied and tempest tossed, the exercise

participants continued nearly as

planned with Navy and Marine

Corps from both countries conducting a mock amphibious landing, to

include the advanced force and all

supporting operations. 

Foal Eagle demonstrated and built

the combat readiness of Korean and

American Naval forces. Mother

Nature may have interfered; however,

the exercise wrapped up as intended

even though not exactly as planned.

(JOSN Robert Sealover, USS Fort

McHenry public affairs, and JO1 John

Domalewski, USS Essex public affairs

contributed to this article.)

Republic of Korean amphibious assault vehicles (AAV) formed into assault waves for a mock amphibious

assault demonstration. A few moments later, U.S. AAVs from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard USS

Juneau (LPD 10) joined them. (PH3 James Davis/USN)
34 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil Surface Warfare

he USS Essex (LHD 2) Amphibious Ready Group (ARG)

and Marines of the 31st

Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU)

currently make up Amphibious

Force, U.S. 7th Fleet. They are the

Navy’s only forward-deployed

amphibious force, and one of their

primary missions is to move Marines

ashore. This is no easy task. It

requires insightful planning, perfect

skills and a tireless dedication to

duty. So to accomplish this task they

call on one team, the only team tried

and practiced in the forwarddeployed environment, Beach Master

Unit 1, Detachment Western Pacific

(BMU 1 Det WestPac).

“Whenever Marines get underway,

we get underway with them,” said

BM2 Victor Guerrero. “While the

Marines are in the field, we stay on

the beach. We’re the link between the

ship and the Marines.” 

“Our main job is to move equipment, vehicles and personnel from

the ships to the shore,” Guerrero

added. “It starts before we leave

Sasebo (Japan), when we find out

where we’re going, what we’re

doing and who we’re 

going with.”

From there, BMU 1

Det WestPac goes to

work. Once they

know where they

will be going, they

consider the mission,

the geographic conditions and the delivery

timing to choose what

gear and equipment they

need. They develop a plan to

get the Marines ashore as expeditiously as possible, which goes

into action as soon as the beach

masters set foot on the sand. They

are among the first ashore, and they

will be the last to leave. Amphibious

assault vehicles (AAVs), a combination of amphibious tank and personnel carrier, often secure the

beach for BMU 1.

T
July/August 2002 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil 35

“We fall in right behind the

‘tracks,’” said CWO3 John Bell, BMU

1 Det WestPac’s officer in charge.

“AAVs come in, our two LARCs

(light amphibious reconnaissance

craft) come in, and then we bring the

first LCU (landing craft utility)

ashore with our gear.”

“No matter who is on the beach,

when we land, we take control,”

Guerrero said.

Once the beach masters arrive on

land, they are responsible for and

control everything from the threefathom curve, or 18 feet out in the

water, to the high-water mark. From

there, Marines take over.

“Our job is to get them ashore.

Then they go do what they have to

do, and when they come back, we get

them back aboard,” said HM2 Stuart

“Doc” Dodd.

With 60 personnel, BMU 1 Det

WestPac is mostly deck and

mechanical personnel. A boatswain’s

mate chief warrant officer is the officer in charge, and the only officer on

the team. A chief boatswain’s mate

serves as the assistant officer in

charge, with three leading petty officers. A construction mechanic first

class oversees all the mechanical

operations, a boatswain’s mate 

first class runs the boat operations,

and an informational systems 

technician first class oversees the

team’s communications. 

Each individual has a specific job

or jobs in the unit and is cross-trained

to perform the duties of any one of

his teammates.

“I try to train myself out of a job.

That is my job,” said BMC Mike

Hunter, BMU 1 Det WestPac’s assistant officer in charge. “I train them so

they can do anything I can do.”

The workday begins at 5 a.m. The

beach masters are soon at the waters

edge, signaling the various amphibious landing craft, guiding them

safely ashore and directing the

offload of their cargo. 

“Every movement is coordinated

with the ships cruising just off the

coast, and every person and piece of

equipment is accounted for whether

coming ashore or returning to the

ships,” said IT1 Charles Smith. 

The day ends when the job is

done, and the beach masters often

work through the night. Regardless

of whether operations are underway

or not, watches remain on post all

night, monitoring various radio frequencies and ready to spring into

action on a moment’s notice.

Despite the long hours and rugged

conditions, everyone in BMU 1 Det

WestPac and everyone around them

seem to have a good time. 

“This is definitely not the Boy

Scouts,” said SA Brandon Rhode.

“It’s a blast.”

Bell agrees, “This is the best job in

the Navy.”

By JO3 Wes Eplen, 

Commander Task Force 76 public affairs

Sailors from Beach Master Unit 1 (BMU 1), Detachment Western Pacific, watch as one of their Beach Masters directs an

amphibious craft to a landing ramp on the island of Iwo Jima in Japan. BMU 1 helped to transport personnel and equipment

from the USS Essex (LHD 2) Amphibious Ready Group and Marines of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. BMU 1 is forward

deployed and homeported in Sasebo, Japan. (JO3 Wes Eplen/USN)
36 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil Surface Warfare

hen USS Abraham Lincoln

(CVN 72) must be less than 200

feet from another ship, the captain calls upon master helmsmen

QM3 Chris Shans or SH3 Danielle

Kiogima to steer the course.

“We have the most training and

experience, so the captain asks us to

take control of the steering,” said

Shans. “I had about 1,000 hours of

time at the helm before I even

became a master helmsman.” 

Helmsmen are the Sailors who

steer the ship from the bridge. On a

carrier, they steer 95,000 tons and 4.5

acres of steel on a course ordered

from the conning officer while considering seas, winds and speed,

among other variables.

Master helmsmen take this skill to

another level. They keep the ship on

an accurate heading during some of

its most difficult or dangerous maneuvers — underway replenishments

(UNREPs), sea and anchor details and

leapfrog drills among others — and

exercise considerable authority.

“If we ever see something that

isn’t right with the way another

helmsman is steering, we have the

authority to relieve [them] and get

the ship back on course,” said Shans. 

It’s not an easy task to maintain

control of a ship the size of Abe and

to maintain the ship’s heading within

one-half degree of its ordered course. 

“They have to focus solely on a

course, and there’s a lot of distractions up here,” said LCDR Joe

Gadwill, assistant navigator. 

“There are helicopters flying

around and other ships that they can

By JO3 Jason Tross

USS Abraham Lincoln public affairs

SH3 Danielle Kiogima and QM3 Chris Shans are the only two qualified master helmsmen aboard USS W Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72). (JO3 Jason Tross/USN)
July/August 2002 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil 37

see out of the corners of their eyes.

Sometimes they look really close, but

they can’t be distracted by that.” 

Sea and anchor detail requires

some of the most precise steering and

maneuvering a master helmsman

must perform. UNREPs can have

hundreds of course changes in just a

short time. 

“That’s more course changes than

any other time and requires more

attention,” said Kiogima. 

Both Kiogima and Shans have

their personal reasons for accepting

the extra workload and responsibilities that come with this position.

“I’m the best ‘driver’ on the ship,

and that’s a good feeling,” said Shans. 

“I like coming up here because it’s

fun,” added Kiogima. “We get special

recognition because of what we’re

capable of doing.”

According to Kiogima, the scariest

part of being a master helmsman is

“that split second when you’re

pulling alongside and knowing if

you’re just a little off course, you

could slam into the other ship. I just

sort of tuck that away in the back of

my head and get past it. 

“I was an undesignated deck seaman, and I used to stand watch on the

helm all the time,” she said. “I talked

to Shans, who had just qualified, and

he told me what was involved. I just

knew I wanted to do it.”

The process of qualifying goes

much further than the personnel

qualification standards and an 

oral board. 

“Usually, they have a good feel for

the ship,” said Gadwill. “They can

anticipate the swing of the ship, and

they can always maintain course. We

watch them drive for a while. We see

how well the helmsmen keep course,

what kind of tolerances they give

themselves, and how much we have

to correct them.” 

LT Mike Chaparro, an officer of

the deck, has spent many evolutions

with both master helmsmen. “It

always gives me a great deal of confidence to have either of these two at

the helm. Knowing that his or her

skill level is matched by no one else

sets him or her apart from everyone

else,” he said.

IS1 Dennis Northerner from

Tell City, Ind., studies for his

Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist

(ESWS) final board. USS

Bonhomme Richard’s (LHD 6)

forecastle is one of many quiet

locations on the ship used for

studying. Northerner was one of

nearly 150 crew members who

earned their pins much faster than

normal because they attended the

ship’s weeklong ESWS “School of

the Ship” or Surge Week. (PH3

Johansen Laurel/USN)

Study 

Hall
38 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil Surface Warfare

issile hit, starboard side! We

have major fires in the communications center, crew living and combat information center;

firemain rupture, second deck starboard passageway; auxiliary machinery room number one flooded, with

progressive flooding into main

machinery room number one!”

The alarm resonates in damage

control (DC) central as computer

screens light up, identifying fires and

flooding throughout the forward section of the ship. Before anyone can

fathom the impact of the damage,

sensors cause the damaged compartments to be sealed off by automatic

fire and flooding boundaries. A computer then begins providing suggestions to the damage control assistant

(DCA) as to a recommended course

of action. All this happens within a

matter of seconds. This capability

may soon be available on every ship

in the Navy.

It’s called Damage Control-Automated Reduced Manning (DC-ARM),

and while one of the driving factors

behind the system was to reduce the

operating costs of future Navy warships by reducing crew size, it’s

become much more.

“It’s gone a little bit further than

that now,” said CWO4 James

Buchanan, one of the Naval Research

Laboratory (NRL) engineering technicians developing the system. “It

also enhances the survivability of the

ship. The systems just create an

atmosphere for damage control to be

more effectively used aboard ships.”

The DC-ARM program sponsor is

the Office of Naval Research. The

NRL’s Navy Technology Center for

Safety and Survivability (NTCSS)

manages the program. 

The system features sensors

throughout the ship monitoring

everything from smoke and heat levels in a compartment to water levels.

The sensors communicate with a computer in

DC central so watchstanders can instantaneously monitor the

status of every compartment on the ship from

one central location. 

Video feeds from

around the ship provide information as

backup to the sensors. If sensors register damage to a

section of the ship, in

addition to those compartments lighting up

on computerized plotting boards, DC central

also gets instant, realtime pictures of the

compartments. This

helps to enhance

decision-making.

The DC-ARM

By JOC David Crenshaw, USNR

Naval Research Laboratory 

public affairs

“M
July/August 2002 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil 39

Supervisory Control

System (SCS) in DC central also gives the DCA

automated recommendations

on how to most effectively

deal with the situation, further enhancing the decision-making process.

Recent tests of the new

technology included

wartime damage and fire

scenarios replicating the

damage expected from an

anti-ship missile 

hit — one of the most

stressing damage control

events. The damage

included structural damage,

damage to accesses, firemain

damage, damage to sensors

and control systems, major

fires, smoke and flooding. 

Fleet personnel participated

in the live fire and flooding tests,

exercising the DC-ARM systems in a

realistic shipboard damage environment aboard the decommissioned

USS Shadwell (LSD 15), which is

moored in Mobile Bay, Ala. The

LSD now serves as the Navy’s

full-scale damage control

research, development, testing and evaluation platform. LCDR Mike

Giannelli experienced

the DC-ARM SCS first-hand as he

played the role of DCA during the

tests and demonstrations. 

“Some of the things I see that are

improvements are some of the recommendations that the system automatically gives you,” Giannelli said. “The

automated plotting from the sensors

— not from a human intervention

sort of thing — gives you more accuracy.... That information, combined

with the video, provides you proper

information, so you don’t always

have to rely on that human interface.

If it says it’s cool in there or hot in

there, and you look at the video and

it either shows the fire or shows that

the water mist was activated, and

you can see the space temperature. It

makes sense. So all that information

is available there to you.”

“The advantage is a quicker

response time to contain the casualty,” said Ryan Downs, an engineer

with MPR Associates, just one of several contractors involved with the

development of the new system.

“Whatever actions the DCA would

normally begin 10 or 20 minutes

down the road after waiting for

investigators to report back, he can

begin almost immediately.”

One of the most critical elements

of dealing with a shipboard casualty,

especially in the case of major fires, 

is setting boundaries to keep the

damage from spreading.

“Most casualties are very beatable

when appropriate action is taken

within a short period of time,”

Downs said. “If you can dispatch

personnel and maintain boundaries

within the first five minutes, you’re

almost guaranteed to minimize the

spread of the fire.”

Traditionally, personnel are dispatched to the scene to set manual

boundaries. Often, this takes longer
40 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil Surface Warfare

than the five-minute window, and it

puts lives at risk by sending them in

to a potentially hazardous environment, but not with DC-ARM.

“The majority of the boundaries in

this system can be maintained with

water mist, a high-pressure, finewater spray system monitored and

controlled by the supervisory control

system,” Downs said. “The DCA only

has to use one or two people to complete the fire boundary, as opposed to

the traditional way where he was

required to use 10 or 12 people to

maintain containment around 

the fire.

Once the fire is contained, attack

teams can begin fighting the fire in

the primary damage area. During 

the testing of DC-ARM, firefighting

teams from USS Ticonderoga (CG 47)

had the challenge of putting out 

the blazes set throughout Shadwell.

Since the Shadwell testing team

makes the damage control 

scenarios as realistic as possible, 

the Ticonderoga crew had a very

intense experience.

“This is probably some of the best

training these guys are going to get,

the closet thing to a real-life shipboard fire,” said LCDR William

Hesse, Ticonderoga’s executive officer and one of the hose-handlers

during the testing. “It exceeds any

trainer that we have right now, just

from the realism standpoint.

“Certainly, the systems we tested

here, such as the water mist system,

are a viable option and from what

we observed, probably a great way

to go, definitely the wave of the

future. I definitely think the incorporation of these systems will allow

ships to decrease manning, which

will certainly be a cost-saver, but

also, while decreasing manning,

when these systems are installed, the

ships are going to be safer,” 

Hesse concluded

A member of the decommissioned USS Shadwell’s (LSD 15) safety team monitors a main space fire just

prior to a demonstration of the water mist extinguishing system. (JOC David Crenshaw/USN)
July/August 2002 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil 41

It will be safer because the DCARM system also incorporates

smart-valve technology. Sensors in

the valve detect sudden changes in

flow, registering a break and potential flooding. The valves then automatically close or open, isolating the

damaged section and rerouting flow

so critical systems — such as firemain — remain fully functional.

These are the type of systems NRL

is demonstrating.

“What we’re demonstrating is a

much smaller crew than I was ever

used to in damage control, and

they’re doing a more efficient job of

combating fires and combating

flooding,” said CAPT Douglas Rau,

NRL commanding officer. “All of

this is very reassuring that we’re

going in the right direction for our

ships of the future and for our ships

in the fleet today, to give our Sailors

a better capability to respond to

damage control.”

“We’re trying to accomplish a general wholesale improvement in ship

survivability and recoverability from

a damage control standpoint, even

chemical and biological, and of

course fire and flooding aspects,”

said Dr. Fred Williams, NTCSS director and technical director of

Shadwell. “We certainly hope it

improves their ability to go in harm’s

way, improves the ship’s ability to

fight and to recover, and most importantly, decreases the loss of life in

damage situations.” 

CAPT Douglas Rau, Navy Research Lab’s commanding officer, explains the monitoring systems in

the “damage control (DC) central of tomorrow” to

visitors aboard the decommissioned USS Shadwell

(LSD 15), prior to a full-scale testing of the DCAutomated Reduced Manning system. Computerized

display screens give instantaneous reports to DC central personnel of damaged compartments throughout

the ship. (JOC David Crenshaw/USN)

Thanks to the supervisory control system, the

damage control assistant receives instant reports of

damage throughout the decommissioned USS

Shadwell (LSD 15). (JOC David Crenshaw/USN)
42 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil Surface Warfare

his is unbelievable!” said

HC1(SW/FMF) William

Burrell as ADM Robert

Natter, Commander in Chief, U.S.

Atlantic Fleet, announced Burrell’s

selection as the 2002 Atlantic Fleet

“Sea Sailor of the Year” at a banquet

in April. “I am humbled to be in the

same company of the other nominees. This really is an honor.”

RADM Jay Foley, Commander,

Naval Surface Force, U.S. Atlantic

Fleet (SURFLANT), nominated

Burrell for the award from a field of

seven finalists, who had been

selected from 116 top Sailors representing all ships under SURFLANT.

He praised Burrell as one of the best

the nation has to offer.

“Since Sept. 11, much has been

demanded of us in uniform,” said

Foley. “Much more will be expected.

But with Sailors like you, I know

we’ll answer the call. I am proud to

wear the same uniform as you do,

and I’m proud to serve with you.”

One of the Sailors who serves with

the corpsman aboard USS Cormorant

(MHC 57) also thinks very highly of

the Sailor of the Year.

“HM1 Burrell is an all-around

Sailor,” said QM1(SW) Larry

Williams, a 13-year Navy veteran and

Cormorant’s assistant navigator. “He’s

motivated and doesn’t give up. Family

is [also] very important to him.”

Burrell cited his love of family as a

driving force in his life and career.

“My wife, Brenda, is my best

friend,” said Burrell, a native of

Germantown, Wisc. “We were both

hospital corpsmen, but since starting

a family, she’s dedicated herself to

our kids.” 

They have three children —

Joseph, 4; Stephen, 3; and Brooke

Marie, 8-months. The two met while

assigned to the Marine Corps Base at

Quantico, Va. 

What advice would Burrell have

for his children if they were joining

the Navy?

“Think of the Navy like an individual retirement account. You get

out of it what you put into it. The

more you put into it, the more you’ll

get out of it,” Burrell said. “I’m starting to see some returns on my 

investment now!” 

It’s also important to be proud of

the uniform and of the sacrifice of

those who wore it according to

Burrell. “Always be mindful of the

people who wore it before you.”

(JOC Patrick Schuetz, U.S. Atlantic

Fleet public affairs; LT Marc Boyd, Mine

Warfare Command public affairs, and

Naval Surface Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet,

public affairs contributed to this article.)

“T

SN LaNecia Thompson (top from left) and MSSN

Luis Martinez observe as HC1(SW/FMF) William Burrell

explains the proper procedure to place simulated victim

(YNSN Audrey Jennings) in a stretcher to IT3 Mark

Pacheco and ET3 Alexander Rosado aboard USS

Cormorant (MHC 57). (LT Marc Boyd/USN)
July/August 2002 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil 43

.S. military forces worldwide

are on heightened security in

the aftermath of the terrorists’

attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Security is a

top priority for law enforcement,

especially for the armed forces. The

need for additional master-at-arms

(MA) personnel to protect our Navy

is a necessity, so the Navy is increasing the number of personnel with

the MA rating to approximately

9,000 Sailors. 

Rising to the challenge of recruiting qualified men and women into

this rapidly expanding rating, the

Navy established its own MA

schools in fleet concentration areas,

such as Norfolk, Va., San Diego and

Kings Bay, Ga. The Navy also

recently opened the MA rating to

entry-level personnel.

“We are taking E-3 to E-6 personnel with no more than 16 years of

service,” said MAC(SW) David

Bruce, the assistant enlisted community manager for the MA program. 

Non-designated SN, AN or FN

who desire to participate in the MA3

exam must first request assignment

and subsequently graduate from MA

“A” School prior to taking the Navywide MA3 exam. The instruction covering conversion to the MA Rating,

MILPERSMAN 1440-010, can be

obtained from the Legal/Law

Enforcement Community Manager

web page located on the Bureau of

Naval Personnel web site at

www.bupers.navy.mil. This instruction contains all the qualifications

that a candidate must meet prior to

applying to the school or becoming

an MA. 

“Active duty Navy personnel

interested in cross-rating into the

MA program should confer with

their command career counselor for

current requirements,” said LT

Todd Carpenter of the Navy’s

Recruiting Command. 

Navy Recruiting is helping to fill

the MA ranks, which will be a multiyear undertaking. And even though

the MA field is expanding, the rigorous requirements remain the same.

“Sailors in master-at-arms ‘A’

school have to pass weapons qualifications on the first try, maintain their

PRT [physical training] standards,

and pass all their written exams in

courses which cover physical

restraints, search and seizure, writing incident reports, the Uniform

Code of Military Justice, and domestic violence training,” explained

MACS Cheryl Patterson, USS

Belleau Wood’s (LHA 3) assistant

physical security officer. “We have to

look sharper and follow and adhere

to the regulations we’re expected to

enforce. It’s a lot of pressure for a

young Sailor.”

One of those young Sailors is

Belleau Wood’s MASN Tara Wolfe,

who stated, “I’m just proud to wear

the uniform and want to display

good morals as a military cop.”

MA2 Jeffrey Peterson, a command

investigator for Commander, Fleet

Activities Sasebo, recently converted

to military cop.

“MAs are the most squared-away

Sailors in the Navy,” said Peterson.

“They set the standard, and they’re

the Navy’s model of core values. I

saw this... and consequently the MA

rating is where I wanted to make

my mark.”

(The Chief of Naval Personnel public

affairs office and JO3 Jeffrey Fretland of

USS Belleau Wood contributed to this

article.)

By JO2 Bashon Mann

Navy Recruiting Command public affairs

MA1 Diego Flores, from USS Anzio (CG 68), helps GM2 Anthony Garfi

aboard the Danish Frigate HDMS Peter Tordenskiold (F356) to practice marU itime interdiction operations on the Baltic Sea. (PH2 Shane McCoy/USN)
44 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil Surface Warfare

USS Klakring takes part in record

drug bust

hile assigned to Director, Joint Inter-Agency Task Force East and

Commander, Naval Forces, U.S. Southern Command, USS Klakring

(FFG 42) helped keep a record amount of drugs off the streets.

It began when a P-3C Orion from VP-45 discovered a smuggling boat well

outside of the normal shipping and fishing lanes. Klakring deployed its own

helicopter to gather further intelligence. When markings on the small boat

matched those of a known smuggling boat, the ship moved in to intercept.

The embarked Coast Guard unit approached in a rigid-hull inflatable boat,

boarded and inspected the suspect craft. In a lower hold, they found hundreds of bales of cocaine. The Navy and Coast Guard team recovered an estimated $300 million of cocaine from the boat, the second largest bust in drug

enforcement history and the largest ever done at sea. 

The Coast Guard detained and moved the nine-man crew to a holding area

on Klakring. After trying to navigate the boat back to port, Klakring Sailors

declared it unsafe to operate and a navigation hazard, and they sank it

shortly after removing all evidence and personal effects.

W

USS Klakring (FFG 42) recently helped keep an estimated $300 million worth of cocaine off the streets.

(JO3 David Valdez/USN)

USS Lake Erie

officer wins

SNA award

he Surface Navy

Association (SNA)

awarded LCDR Eric Cash

of USS Lake Erie (CG 70) its

prestigious Arleigh Burke

Award at its annual national

symposium in Washington, D.C. 

Cash received a certificate

of superior achievement in

recognition of his pioneering

efforts helping to develop

Theater Missile Defense, a

major mission area for the

United States Navy in the 

21st Century. 

SNA established the award

in 1985, and its purpose is to

promote greater coordination

and communication among

those in the military, business

and academic communities.

T
July/August 2002 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil 45

Support ship doubles UNREPs 

SS Detroit (AOE-4) recently

returned home to more than

600 cheering friends and family members at Naval Weapons

Station Earle, N.J., following its

deployment in the war on terrorism.

While away from home, the crew of

the fast combat support ship completed 165 underway replenishments

(UNREPs) along with numerous vertical replenishments and cross-deck

transfers, mostly in support of

Operation Enduring Freedom. 

Detroit completed twice as many

UNREPS during this recent deployment then than during its last two

deployments combined. That hard

work probably helped the ship earn

its recently presented Battle Efficiency

Award. Most of the crew knew it

would be a hard deployment 

because the ship departed Sept. 11, 2001.

On that infamous day, Detroit prepared for departure pierside at Earle.

Located across New York Bay from Manhattan, some of Detroit’s crew

watched in horror as the second plane hit the World Trade Center and saw

the smoke as the two buildings collapsed. The ship immediately began

preparations to get underway.

“Sailors were running down the pier to get aboard, not knowing

whether their loved ones were safe,” said CAPT Noriann Reed, Detroit’s

commanding officer.

Leaving within six hours of the second terrorist attack, the ship did not

return home for nearly seven months, first supporting Operation Noble Eagle

in defending America’s eastern seaboard, and then Enduring Freedom.

USS Detroit (AOE 4) conducts operations in the Red

Sea. (PHC Eric Clement/USN)

U

aboard for the single at-sea trial to

conduct the inspections and tests

required while the ship is underway. 

“By conducting only one of the

ship’s two trial periods at sea, we

save on fuel and on the costs associated with having a company and

Navy workforce at sea,” said Dr. Phil

Dur, Northrop Grumman Ship

Systems’ president. “All of these

costs are eliminated for us and 

the Navy. It’s a win-win for the 

company, the Navy and the

American taxpayers.”

McCampbell also broke new

ground by becoming the first Bathbuilt ship to combine “builder’s and

acceptance trials.” 

Indicative of the trials’ success,

McCampbell and Shoup displayed

two brooms, signifying a “clean

sweep” upon their return to 

the shipyards.

Navy takes delivery of two

destroyers

he Navy took delivery of its newest Aegis guided-missile destroyers,

pre-commissioning unit (PCU) Shoup (DDG 86) from Northrop

Grumman Ship Systems and PCU McCampbell (DDG 85) from Bath

Iron Works. 

Shoup is the first Aegis destroyer to conduct only one at-sea trial. It conducted the second trial afterward pierside. Previously, each ship underwent

two separate sea trial evolutions underway in the Gulf of Mexico. Under the

new schedule, the Navy Board of Inspection and Survey has representatives

T

PCU Shoup (DDG 86) moves from dry dock to pierside in

Pascagoula, Miss., where final construction and testing were

done before the Navy accepted delivery. 

(PCU Shoup/USN)

PCU McCampbell (DDG 85) undergoes construction pierside at Bath Iron Works in Maine. (Bath Iron Works)
46 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil Surface Warfare

A Sailor on look-out watch scans the horizon at sunset through one of the “Big Eyes”

on the signal bridge of USS Enterprise (CVN 65) in support of Operation Enduring

Freedom. (PHAN Lance Mayhew/USN)
May/June 2002 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil 47

We encourage your submission of 

photographs for publication in this

recurring section of the magazine.

Submissions may be sent as prints,

transparencies, or electronic files (.jpg

or .tiff format at a minimum size of 5x7

inches at 266 dpi — 300 dpi is preferred).

Address your submissions to:

Surface Warfare 

“Views from the Fleet”

OPNAV N761M

1333 Issac Hull Ave., SE Stop 7102

Washington Navy Yard, DC 20376-7102

Photos sent as attachments to 

e-mail should be sent to:

surfwarmag@navsea.navy.mil.

Crew members aboard the U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer

USS Ramage (DDG 61) “man the rails” on the ship’s bridge as

the ship returns from a six-month deployment in the Middle East.

(PH2 Michael Sandberg/USN)

A CH-46 helicopter from the “Chargers” of Helicopter Combat

Support Squadron Six (HC-6) prepares to pick up a pallet of supplies aboard the guided-missile cruiser USS Hue City (CG 66).

(PHC Spike Call/USN)
48 http://surfacewarfare.navy.mil Surface Warfare

Commander in Chief, United

States Pacific Command

ADM T. B. Fargo relieved

ADM D. C. Blair

Commander, United States

Pacific Fleet

ADM W. F. Doran relieved

ADM T. B. Fargo

S U R FL A N T

Commander, Naval Surface

Force, United States 

Atlantic Fleet 

(COMNAVSURFLANT)

RADM T.T. Etnrye relieved

RADM J. Foley

Commander, Cruiser

Destroyer Group 2 

(COMCRUDESGRU TWO) & 

USS George Washington 

Battle Group

RADM J.A. Sestak Jr. relieved

RADM C.A. Kemp

Commander, Destroyer

Squadron 26 

(COMDESRON 26)

CAPT G. D. Roncolato relieved

CAPT S. L. Jones

Commander, Mine

Countermeasures Squadron 3

(COMCMRON 3)

CAPT M. J. O’Moore relieved

CAPT G. J. Cornish

Commander,Logistics

Squadron 2 (COMLOGRON 2)

CAPT R. C. Jackson relieved

CAPT W. E. Elliott

USS George Washington

(CVN 73)

CAPT M. J. Erdossy relieved

CAPT W. J. McCarthy

USS La Salle (AGF 3)

CAPT J. R. Haley relieved

CAPT C.A. Hautau

USS Halyburton (FFG 40)

CDR W. C. McQuilkin relieved

CDR W. E. Rhoades

USS Stout (DDG 55)

CDR G. Bonsall relieved

CDR C. Sharpe

USS Ramage (DDG 61)

CDR R. M. Hendrickson relieved

CDR C.W. Kiley

USS Porter (DDG 78)

CDR J. B. Nowell relieved

CDR M. E. Smith

USS Winston S. Churchill

(DDG 81)

CDR H.A. Graf relieved

CDR M.T. Franken

USS Trenton (LPD 14)

CDR R. P. Irelan relieved

CDR B.A. Goulding

USS Tortuga (LSD 46)

CDR B. J. Shanahan relieved

CDR J. P. Driscoll

USS Grapple (ARS 53)

LCDR D. L. Edson relieved

LCDR A. P.Tupman

USS Sirocco (PC 6)

LCDR M.A. Olson relieved

LCDR T. P. Hollingshead

S U R F P A C

Commander, CruiserDestroyer Group ONE

RDML Barry M. Costello relieved

RADM Terrance T. Etnyre

USS Essex (LHD 2)

CAPT R. R. Evans relieved

CAPT S.A. Berg

USS Tarawa (LHA 1)

CAPT J. Bowling Jr. relieved

CAPT J. L. Clark

USS Denver (LPD 9)

CAPT B. E. Johanson relieved 

CDR S. G. Squires

USS Gary (FFG 51)

CDR T. P. Dua relieved 

CDR M. Olmstead 

USS Fletcher (DD 992)

CDR T. C. Neal relieved 

CDR D.W. Epperson 
SM3 Frank Mills of USS John F. Kennedy’s (CV 67)

navigation department practices flashing lights with a

12-inch incandescent searchlight located on the signal

bridge. The 23-year-old signalman from Jacksonville,

Fla., has been drawing comic strips since he was 10-

years-old. If you would like to submit an original comic

strip, e-mail a high resolution jpeg or tiff to surfwarmag@navsea.navy.mil or mail an original drawing to

Surface Warfare, 1333 Isaac Hull Ave. SE, Mail Stop

7102, Washington Navy Yard, D.C. 20376-7102. 

(JO1 Chris Alves/USN)