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jchamberlin

jchamberlin

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 19, 2010
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1,842
Location
Farmville, North Carolina
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Jeremiah Chamberlin
Guys: Don't expect to hear from me for the next couple of days; I'm headed out on the USS Wasp LHD-1 "First in the Fleet." I'm accompanying my son from Boston Harbor to Norfolk, Virginia. I think we're supposed to drop some some Marines off at Cherry Point Naval Air Station enroute. Wish me luck, I find one needs to be in shape to negotiate all the stairs on board. :)
 
Jeremiah, I spent my time in the service on 2 LPD's, 11 and 12. Whats an LHD?
 
Okay, I think those replaced the LHA's, cool. An LPD had a big stern gate, she'd ballast down, flood the well deck and float mic (similar to the boats you've seen landing troops on d-day) boats out loaded with 6x6's, or whatever.
 
Dave: I just got back from my Tiger Cruise --I had a great time, and learned alot about the ship. Allen posted a good link to the detailed specifications of the USS Wasp, one of eight (8) LHD-class ships currently commissioned for use in the US Navy. The first seven (7), like the Wasp are steam-powered ships that use JP5/8 or Diesel fired boilers; LHD 8 (I don't know the ship's name) is a gas turbine --it uses a jet engine for power. Right now, in order to make sure there are no mechanical issues, my son has to report Thursday night to "light off" the power plant for a Monday morning departure; I understand they fire up the gas turbine 5 minutes before they leave(one button). If you've ever toured the a steam boiler plant, you know that is a big deal.

As a frame of reference for Dave, the LHD typically goes to battle with both an LSD class ship and an LPD class ship for a group of three. The LHD has at least one LCAC or "Hovercraft" (there is room for three) and has room for up to nine (9) Ospreys on the flight deck; or some combination of Ospreys and at least two other types of helicopters (I wasn't paying all that much attention, one of them was a "Huey"). The LHD carries a complement of up to 2,200 marines with a crew of about 1,000 sailors (the Mess was pretty crowded Saturday). The LSD and LPD are smaller, and even though they might have well decks, they are not as big as the ones on the LHD. In addition to the LCAC, there is also room on the LHD to store several troop transport vehicles including armored personnel carriers (with and without tracks), tanks, jeeps, Humvees, Bradleys, etc. By way of comparison, the LSD has room for 1,200 Marines, and the LPD has room for about 800 Marines.

I had a great time and explored the ship from the forecastle to the fan tail, and from the Pit to the Bridge (signal house, actually). We watched Ospreys take off and land, and got to watch the LCAC fly out and in over the waves. One of the Tigers even went down on the Well Deck and got a picture of the LCAC leaving and got a soaking from the salt water spray for his efforts. Another Tiger couple (a mom & dad) got unauthorized access to the flight deck and photographed an Osprey taking off "up close and personal." I enjoyed spending time with my son most of all, we had a lot of time to visit over the three-day cruise.
 
I can understand how that would be a great weekend for you. Your spot on for the LPD, She caried 800 marines. I was a MM hole snipe, I could start an engine room from cold iron, 1 1/2 to 3 hours as long as the BT's could get the boiler boiling.
My brother was on a DDG which I was able to tour. Gas Turbines were pretty slick set-ups even back than.
 
Dave: Glad you caught my post. You may be dating yourself with the reference to BT (Boiler Tech); my son could rattle off all the rates, but my understanding is that right now MMs (Machinist Mates) are a dying breed, they are only being assigned to the oil-fired steam ships which are rapidly being phased out in favor of the gas turbines.

There is talk of combining several current rates into two main rates: Propulsion Engineers (for the main plant) and Auxilliary Engineers (for the HVAC and other non-propulsion applications).

Right now, and guy can be a Machinist Mate and be assigned to the snap line shop on a carrier and not know ANYTHING about a boiler: they recently had someone transfer in with just such credentials (he's been playing catchup ever since he came aboard).

I couldn't figure out half of the alphabet soup those guys used on a daily basis, but I had a lot of fun and got to see my son.
smile.gif
 
They had an AUX dept. back when, nick named "A" gang. They took care of the hydraulics, refrigeration units and steering. They manned aft steering and emergency generators during sea and anchor or general quarters.
When I toured my brothers ship I wondered if I was looking at the future. It was clean relativly quiet, run off a one-man air conditioned control room. The pumps on my ship used 60 year old technology. The seals on all the pumps used water to cool and lubricate them so they were designed to leak. 5 men on the MM side and 4 BT's to operate the boiler. 3 section duty was cake but 6 and 6 was normal cause you were always short handed.
Some of the best times and some of the worst were in those years in the service, I hope your Son gets everything out of it he wants.
 
Hi Jeremiah, back in 1997 I to flew out to Pearl Harbor and boarded the USS Essex LHD-2 for a tiger cruise that sailed back to San Diego with two other ships in the group. My son was a marine on the ship assigned to a 20-ton LAV that rode on one of the LCAC's. Don't you just love their acronyms? Light Armored Vehicle - Landing Craft Air Cushioned!! I was out to sea with him for about 10 days. It was a BLAST!! It was the first and only time I actually got "sea legs". What an experience.
 
The ship was on it's way home from this deployment:

1996--After a short maintenance period, Essex embarked on a vigorous workup cycle, culminating in her participation in Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC), a biennial, seven-nation naval exercise. On 10 October 1996, she embarked on her second Western Pacific deployment, with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (SOC) and Amphibious Squadron Five.

During the deployment, Essex participated in multinational exercises with Qatar, Oman and Kuwait, as well as Exercise Tandem Thrust 1997, an American-Australian combined exercise with over 28,000 troops, 250 aircraft and 40 ships participating.
 
I spent 4 years on CVN-71 a nuclear powered aircraft carrier. As a MR (machinery repairman), i would manufacture parts, rebuild pumps, and any other machine shop work to keep systems up and running. "A" gang would haul greasy/broken stuff to our shop all of the time and within a few hours they came to pick it up clean and fully functional. It is amazing what we could do with such limited resources while out on deployment to the persian gulf.
 
Shannon, Welcome to the forum and thank you for serving you country
 

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