A NAVY SHIP Sheila Scarborough is a Lieutenant Commander on a US Navy ship stationed in Japan. Not many of us know what goes on on a Navy ship, and Sheila is kind enough to share her experiences with us. My name is Sheila Scarborough, and I'm a US Navy Officer. I'm stationed aboard a ship homeported in Sasebo, Japan. This kind of ship launches and recovers amphibious boats.
Amphibious boats can go on water and on land.
The Marines and their equipment go inside the boats and are driven into shore, where they get off and go fight the war, do rescues, practice drills, etc. We have to sink our boat a little bit until it fills with enough water for the LCACs to swim in and out. We do that by filling up some special tanks, called ballast tanks, with sea water. Filling the tanks makes the ship heavier and sink lower. When the LCACs are finished coming or going, we use compressed air to blow the water back out of the tanks and into the ocean.