It's motivating to see it all come together. Not only did it give us a chance to exercise all of our spotters, but we were afforded the opportunity to run the entire operation, integrating the battalion landing team, air combat element and Italians. USS La Salle's deck department showed their stuff as the two ships steamed alongside each other. The deck force launched shot lines and sound powered phone lines across the small canyon that separated the two ships. Other deck personnel hauled in the heavy fuel lines over to La Salle, snapping the probe into place before the fueling began.
People think that a boatswain's mate just chips paint, but there's a lot more to the job.
As the La Salle began to receive fuel, other deck force personnel were hard at work on the flight deck. Detroit's UH-46 Sea Knight helicopter transported palletized supplies between the flight decks of the two ships. And while a total of 73 crew members were involved in the effort, only about 25 per cent of them had any prior experience. During the two-hour operation La Salle took on 325,000 gallons of fuel and 45 pallets of cargo. The host country was represented by the San Marco Battalion of the Italian Army.