Enterprise Replenishes at Sea

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Enterprise Replenishes at Sea Story by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Gregory White USS ENTERPRISE, At Sea – Sailors assigned to aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) completed a replenishment at sea (RAS) with Military Sealift Command fast combat support ship USNS Supply (T-AOE 6) April 18. The purpose of the RAS was to replenish Enterprise with goods and materials essential to both the ship’s mission and the crew’s morale. During the RAS, Enterprise took on supplies such as food, mail and fuel, among other necessities. “We received everything from milk to chips,” said Master Chief Culinary Specialist Thaddeus T. Wright. “We had both dry and frozen provisions come in.” The replenishment of food supplies is necessary in order to continue feeding such a large crew while underway. Some foods have also become a comfort to many Sailors and Marines aboard Enterprise. The most anticipated supply brought on during each RAS, however, is mail. Receiving mail during deployment is one of the most powerful morale boosters for the crew. Yeoman 3rd Class Michael A. Nye said Enterprise took on more than 1,500 pounds of mail during the carrier’s most recent RAS. Fifteen hundred pounds of mail might seem like a lot, but it’s a relatively small weight when compared to the amount of fuel Big E brought aboard. “We brought on 1.2 million gallons of fuel today,” said Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Fuel) 2nd Class Tanisha F. Glass. “We try to replenish fuel before we get below 60 percent capacity.” Glass said the fuel was much needed because it had been a while since the last RAS. “You never know what can happen to prevent us from being able to replenish, so we try to stay on top of our fuel - especially since we are using nearly 100,000 gallons per day during regular flight operations,” said Glass. Of course, an aircraft carrier cannot serve its mission if there is no fuel aboard to refill its aircraft, so replenishing fuel is an essential part of Enterprise’s mission. “Now that we’re in 5th Fleet we are going to see this more often,” said Wright. “We will start taking on mail and fuel a lot more as well as food, soda, and things for the ship’s store. Everyone wins during these evolutions.” The RAS is a critical evolution and requires the efforts of many crew members to complete it swiftly and efficiently. “Replenishment at sea is a very organized process,” said Nye. “It takes a lot of players to make sure everything goes smoothly and according to plan.” The team effort put forth by the 250-man working party, as they work together to ensure that each RAS is carried out successfully, is valued by everyone involved. “I truly appreciate everyone that comes out to help,” said Wright. “Each person makes a difference.” Boatswain’s Mate 1st Class Christopher Gray, left, and Seaman Norman Stoll direct incoming supply pallets in the hangar bay of aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) during a replenishment at sea with Military Sealift Command fast combat support ship USNS Supply (T-AOE 6). (Photo by MC3 Scott Pittman)

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USS ENTERPRISE, At Sea – Sailors assigned to aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) completed a replenishment at sea (RAS) with Military Sealift Command fast combat support ship USNS Supply (T-AOE 6) April 18.

Transcript of Enterprise Replenishes at Sea

Page 1: Enterprise Replenishes at Sea

April 19, 2012 Issue“We are Legend”Newsletter Edition

USS Enterprise (CVN 65)

Enterprise Replenishes at SeaStory by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Gregory White

The Shuttle

USS ENTERPRISE, At Sea – Sailors assigned to aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) completed a replenishment at sea (RAS) with Military Sealift Command fast combat support ship USNS Supply (T-AOE 6) April 18. The purpose of the RAS was to replenish Enterprise with goods and materials essential to both the ship’s mission and the crew’s morale. During the RAS, Enterprise took on supplies such as food, mail and fuel, among other necessities. “We received everything from milk to chips,” said Master Chief Culinary Specialist Thaddeus T. Wright. “We had both dry and frozen provisions come in.” The replenishment of food supplies is necessary in order to continue feeding such a large crew while underway. Some foods have also become a comfort to many Sailors and Marines aboard Enterprise. The most anticipated supply brought on during each RAS, however, is mail. Receiving mail during deployment is one of the most powerful morale boosters for the crew. Yeoman 3rd Class Michael A. Nye said Enterprise took on more than 1,500 pounds of mail during the carrier’s most recent RAS. Fifteen hundred pounds of mail might seem like a lot, but it’s a relatively small weight when compared to the amount of fuel Big E brought aboard. “We brought on 1.2 million gallons of fuel today,” said Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Fuel) 2nd Class Tanisha F. Glass. “We try to replenish fuel before we get below 60 percent capacity.” Glass said the fuel was much needed because it had been a while since the last RAS. “You never know what can happen to prevent us from being able to replenish, so we try to stay on top of our fuel - especially since we are using nearly 100,000 gallons per day

during regular flight operations,” said Glass. Of course, an aircraft carrier cannot serve its mission if there is no fuel aboard to refill its aircraft, so replenishing fuel is an essential part of Enterprise’s mission. “Now that we’re in 5th Fleet we are going to see this more often,” said Wright. “We will start taking on mail and fuel a lot more as well as food, soda, and things for the ship’s store. Everyone wins during these evolutions.” The RAS is a critical evolution and requires the efforts of many crew members to complete it swiftly and efficiently. “Replenishment at sea is a very organized process,” said Nye. “It takes a lot of players to make sure everything goes smoothly and according to plan.” The team effort put forth by the 250-man working party, as they work together to ensure that each RAS is carried out successfully, is valued by everyone involved. “I truly appreciate everyone that comes out to help,” said Wright. “Each person makes a difference.”

Boatswain’s Mate 1st Class Christopher Gray, left, and Seaman Norman Stoll direct incoming supply pallets in the hangar bay of aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) during a replenishment at sea with Military Sealift Command fast combat support ship USNS Supply (T-AOE 6). (Photo by MC3 Scott Pittman)

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Thursday, April 19, 2012Page 2

The Shuttle is published and printed daily underway and bi-weekly in port by the USS Enterprise (CVN 65) Media Department, FPO AE 09543-2810. This newspaper is an authorized publication for members of the Department of Defense. Please direct all story ideas, questions and comments to MC1 (SW) Steve Smith at [email protected].

Public Affairs OfficerLt. Cmdr. Sarah T. Self-Kyler

Executive OfficerCapt. G. C. Huffman

Commanding OfficerCapt. William C. Hamilton, Jr.

EditorsMC2 (SW) Kristin L. Grover

MCSN Harry GordonMCSN Brian G. Reynolds

The Shuttle

USS Enterprise (CVN 65)

Command Master ChiefABCM (AW/SW) Eric M. Young

Big E HappeningsThe Shuttle

Logisitics Specialist Seaman David Murphy and Lt. Marcus Thomas, material control officer, inventory incoming supply pallets in the hangar bay of aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) during a replenishment at sea with Military Sealift Command fast combat support ship USNS Supply (T-AOE 6) (Photo by MC3 Scott Pittman)

An HH-60H helicopter assigned to the Dragonslayers of Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron (HS) 11 preforms a vertical replenishment, with Military Sealift Command fast combat support ship USNS Supply (T-AOE 6), aboard aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65). (Photo by MCSN Harry Andrew Gordon)

Sailors man the phone and distance (P and D) line aboard aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) during a replenishment at sea with Military Sealift Command fast combat support ship USNS Supply (T-AOE 6). (Photo by MCSN Harry Andrew Gordon)

Seaman Matthew Fowler fakes down a line in the hangar bay of aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) during a replenishment at sea with Military Sealift Command fast combat support ship USNS Supply (T-AOE 6). (Photo by MC3 Scott Pittman)

Aviation Ordnanceman 1st Class James K. Owen stands by during a vertical replenishment, with Military Sealift Command fast combat support ship USNS Supply (T-AOE 6) (Photo by MCSN Harry Andrew Gordon)

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Thursday, April 19, 2012 Page 3The Shuttle

CNO Eyes Maritime Strategy TweaksBy Emelie Rutherford, DEFENSE DAILYNATIONAL HARBOR, Md. --The Navy is in the “very early stages” of modifying the tri-service maritime strategy, the service’s chief acknowledged publicly recently. The Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard released the current maritime strategy, a “Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower,” with much fanfare in October 2007.Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Jonathan Greenert said Monday he has “talked extensively” with Navy Undersecretary Bob Work about making some modifications to the nearly five-year old guiding document. Greenert, addressing the Navy League’s Sea Air Space conference, said when he transitioned to the CNO role last year he thought the strategy document could use a “refresh,” though not a full-scale revision. Since then Congress has passed the Budget Control Act of 2011, which calls for at least $487 billion in cuts to planned defense spending over the next 10 years, and the Pentagon crafted a new Defense Strategic Guidance. After those two new plans came into place, Greenert said, he decided “we should take longer” in looking to update the maritime strategy. The CNO praise the advice Work has given on modifying the strategy, calling the undersecretary “amazing” and “very analytically driven.” “He said maybe there are chapters here that we need to get involved in, (and) look at when we talk about the maritime strategy, what do we believe makes up our fleet as we know it today, maybe we ought to talk about that,” Greenert said.

Greenert said officials may add addendums to the current strategy document that “would be classified that might address things like anti-access area-of-denial and things of that nature, to provide maybe a more holistic look at our Navy and its strategy.” The Navy chief acknowledged he has to talk with Marine Commandant Gen. James Amos and Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Robert Papp about modifying the maritime strategy. “This is a sea-service strategy,” Greenert said while sitting alongside Amos and Papp during a panel discussion at the annual naval conference. “I’m giving you kind of a snapshot of my thoughts. But I have to make this, lay it out, be coherent, and give direction and talk to my colleagues.” The current maritime strategy was signed by three now-retired officials: former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead, Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway, and Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen.It was the first-such document signed by the three service chiefs. That plan calls for maintaining a global positioned force that has credible combat power, can limit regional issues, deter conflict, and fight and win when called upon to do so and in cooperation with others. It describes the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard conducting sea-control operations and projecting power, as well as expanding more than previously into maritime security, disaster response, and humanitarian assistance.

In The News

Congressional Delegation Applauds Jet Crash ResponseBy Austin Bogues, NEWPORT NEWS DAILY PRESS

The entire Virginia Congressional delegation sent a letter to Secretary of the Navy Ray Maybus praising the emergency response to the Virginia Beach jet crash on April 6. In the letter, dated April 17, 2012, the delegation praises the “superb teamwork and sensitivity to the needs of those impacted.” Since the crash of an F/A-18D Hornet crash into the Mayfair Mews Apartments, international attention has focused on how no one was killed in the accident. The two pilots inside the aircraft were able to safely eject and landed nearby. “There is no question that the seamless coordination between state, local and military responders prevented additional casualties and property losses,” the letter read.

“We also want to salute the spontaneous efforts of local residents who quickly pulled the two naval aviators to safety and then assisted fire crews as they deployed firefighting equipment. ... This finely tuned coordination between civilian and military first responders and relief workers is truly commendable.” A Manual of the Judge Advocate General, or JAGMAN investigation, will work to determine the cause and responsibility for the crash, investigate injuries and provide a description of all property damage. A Naval board will also investigate engineering and other aspects of the crash that will be not be made public, due to sensitive information. The Navy is also beginning the process of compensating residents of the apartment complex.

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Thursday, April 19, 2012The ShuttlePage 4

PR3 Ryan Riesterer, from Turner, Ore., joined the Navy two years ago to better himself and to see the world. In his spare time, Riesterer enjoys hiking, fishing and hunting. He plans on advancing in rank, earning a degree and becoming an officer.

Aircrew Survival Technician 3rd ClassRyan Riesterer

Sailors of the Day

YN3 Courtney Nelson, from Houston, joined the Navy three years ago to finish her college education. Nelson enjoys spending time with her son, reading and shopping. In the future, she hopes to become a registered nurse.

Yeoman 3rd ClassCourtney M. Nelson

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