CARR Families and Friends,
This week we are back at sea taking part in COMPTUEX. This exercise is designed to test all of Carr’s mission areas and ensure we are deployable to anywhere world-wide. We last completed COMPTUEX back in JAN/FEB 2011 prior to our last deployment.
I am working through updating our mailing list, there may still be a few people left on it who have departed – please shoot me a note if you would like to be removed from the mailing list.
This week’s significant events included:
Day 1 – Friday, April 20th (Depart Norfolk)
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We got underway in the early afternoon to commence our transit to Mayport, Fl and embark our helicopter detachment. We will embark the same single SH-60B helo detachment that we deployed with to 4th Fleet last year. Our primary focus enroute Mayport will be to ensure that our systems are ready and watchstanders are proficient in the procedures necessary to fight our ship. Shortly after exiting restricted waters, we proceeded out to sea to live-fire all of our gun systems. Today we successfully shot our 76mm gun, 20mm Close in Weapons System, .50 Caliber Mounts, 25mm guns, and 7.62mm machine guns.
We also completed a hurricane preparedness exercise. Our admin department, led by PS1 James Hannah, verified our crew and spouse roster to account for everyone on the Navy Family Accountability and Assessment System (NFAAS) website. In the event of a disaster, all family members are required to log onto the website and account for their families (this includes location and injuries). More on NFAAS next week….navyfamily.navy.mil
Day 2 – Saturday, April 21st
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Today we conducted all hands training regarding Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (SAPR). April is Sexual Assault Awareness month in our Navy – while our navy has made progress over the past several years, we continue to actively work to stop sexual assaults. Sexual assault is a crime that erodes our operational readiness; our Navy will not tolerate any instance of sexual assault. Training was led by our STGC William Colmenares who did an excellent job of interacting with our Sailors on this sensitive subject.
Congratulations to ENS Michael Brown who earned his Surface Warfare Officer qualification. His qualification board was broken into several parts that took place over the last few weeks. His qualification included in-depth discussions regarding logistics, operations, engineering and combat systems. The last item that he completed today was a presentation to the Wardroom of the Battle of Midway.
Day 3 – Sunday, April 22nd
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Today we observed holiday routine – a chance for people to sleep in and get their batteries recharged for the upcoming week. In addition, watchstanders continued to prepare to execute COMPTUEX.
Day 4- Monday, April 23rd (Brief Stop in Mayport)
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This morning we arrived at Naval Station Mayport to embark our helo personnel and their gear. While we were in port, we took advantage of the Mayport maintenance facilities and got some parts and tech support. After getting underway in the early evening, our helo flew out and landed on us.
Day 5 – Tuesday, April 24th
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Today our COMPTUEX officially begun. Our first day involved conducting boardings of suspect vessels. This involves CARR driving up close to the vessel to be boarded and communicating over the bridge to bridge radio.
Once we receive permission to board, the Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure (VBSS) team arms up and embarks our Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat (RHIB) and heads over to the vessel to be boarded. The job of the VBSS team is to secure the vessel and conduct a thorough search to look for contraband material along with suspect personnel.
Our Ship’s Serviceman and Culinary Specialist put in extra hours this week to ensure that each time our boarding team returned from a mission their uniforms were promptly washed and dried as well as providing them with a warm meal. Special thanks to SH1 Jason Zarcone, Laundry and Services Division Leading Petty Officer, for supporting his shipmates.
Special thanks to EM2 Jereme Fuller for continuing to demonstrate superior troubleshooting skill. Shortly after our departure from Norfolk, Carr’s laundry exhaust fan stopped working. This fan is important because it removes the heat from our laundry facility created by our industrial clothes dryers. Rather than give up on the fan and just order a $32,000 replacement, he decided to disassemble the fan and troubleshoot. His resourcefulness and dedication resulted in repairs that restored the fan to full operation..great job on pushing ahead and getting the job done right.
Day 6 – Wednesday, April 25th
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Today’s COMPTUEX focus area was again boardings by our VBSS team. Later in the evening I received the evaluations of the boardings; the comments stated that our team displayed great enthusiasm and dedication, along with knowing their procedures. FC2 Gunderson displayed exceptional professionalism while conducting personnel searches and received many positive comments from the assessors. STG2 Harrold was also praised for his performance as Assistant Boarding Officer.
Later that afternoon we conducted a live fire event that is designed to demonstrate our ability to conduct warning and disabling fire from all of our guns. This exercise involved us shooting at a towed target while we maneuvered. Although it seems straight forward, hitting a moving target at sea while you are also moving is a big challenge. Great shooting by STG2 Matthew Greenwood; everyone shooting did well, but his shots were dead on!
Congratulations to ENS Arash Hague who completed his Helicopter Control Officer qualification. The HCO is charged with manning our helicopter tower and communicating with the helo and monitoring/ensuring safety when operating with a helicopter.
Day 7 – Thursday, April 26th
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Today the weather began rough and deteriorated quickly. As we awoke in the morning, Carr was moving around quite a bit in choppy 4-6 ft seas; however, we held out hope that the seas would abate. That morning we commenced our exercises by preparing to conduct yet another boarding. After chasing down the vessel and communicating them on bridge to bridge we prepared to lower our RHIB. After looking at the increasing wave height, I decided to hold off to ensure we executed the boarding safely. The seas continued to build and exercise control cancelled the event.
Since the boarding was cancelled, we headed East early to rendezvous with USNS Lewis and Clark to conduct an underway replenishment. As the seas began to build it became a challenge just to make progress towards the vicinity of the oiler.at one point we were ordering up 15kts and only making 9kts. We continued to push on, but the underway replenishment was cancelled as seas built to 9-10 ft. I think the largest roll we took was about thirty degrees to port, followed by thirty degrees to starboard – pretty sporty!
We have a tough crew, with very few reporting any problems.
Day 8 – Friday, April 27th
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Good news!!…much calmer weather today by comparison – 4-6 ft seas. This morning we rendezvoused with USNS Big Horn – at the start of the underway replenishment we were experiencing 6 ft seas with winds over the deck at about 45kts. We were prepared and safely completed the evolution, receiving 64,000 gallons of Diesel Fuel Marine. Great job to our Rig Captain, BM3 Travis Gardner, and our Line Handling Petty Officer in Charge, BM3 Matthew Mudderman! BM3 Gardner’s expertise with the refueling rig ensured that we were able to quickly and efficiently get hooked up to the Big Horn. BM3 Mudderman’s take charge attitude ensured that the 18 people handling lines were able to quickly bring the probe across and begin the much needed refueling.
Congratulations to HT1 Joshua Linton upon receiving the Navy League’s Middendorf Award for engineering excellence. Every ship in our Navy gets to put in a package and there is only one winner – this is a testament to his skill both within and beyond his rate. Well Done!
Day 9 – Saturday, April 28th
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Today was yet another surface gunnery exercise.this one involved shooting at a large radar reflective inflatable known as a “killer tomato.” We inflated the killer tomato with air and tossed it off the flight deck, then departed the area at high speed to open our distance. Once we were clear of the area, we turned around and proceeded inbound, engaging the target with our 76mm and 20mm CIWS. Once we got closer, we maneuvered to allow our crew served weapons mounts to unleash their weapons on the target.
The next event was an Air Defense exercise which involves aircraft making attack runs on the strike group, allowing us to practice our pre-planned responses and required communications. Later that evening we got to shoot four rounds of chaff – chaff are small pieces of metal inside a tube that is shot high into the air. Once airborne, the shell explodes, releasing the pieces of metal in order to produce a large radar cross section. The goal is for a missile headed toward Carr to see a large reflection and redirect towards the false target.
We also got to sea a weather phenomena today.water spouts. Water spouts are tornadoes that form over water – at one point we observed 4 simultaneous water spouts near Carr. The Bridge team kept a sharp eye out and avoided the funnel clouds and keeping us all safe.
We also continued to prepare for our upcoming INSURV. Great job to HM2 Eric Nobriga who continued to prepare our medical gear for inspection. Today he spent time inventorying and repairing first aid boxes throughout Carr.
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Please join us on Facebook:
CARR
https://www.facebook.com/FFG52
OMBUDSMAN
http://www.facebook.com/pages/USS-CARR-ombudsman/219688138070847?sk=wall
CARR Family Readiness Group
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_137767426300026&ap=1
Jessica Meissner OMBUDSMAN
April Linton Co-OMBUDSMAN
Jackie Lease FRG President
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Until next week, stay safe Carr Family and Friends!
CDR Patrick Kulakowski
Commanding Officer
USS CARR (FFG 52)
“Courage, Will, Determination”
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