Monday, Shipboard life

 Picture of the day:

Above is an LST it is flat bottomed, it can pull up to a beach and the bow opens for troops and trucks to make a landing.  That was my 2nd ship.

My last ship for 2 years the USS Independence

For today:

This entry is in response to questions about the big USN buildup in the Mediterranean Sea and Iran. WE have thousands of sailors/marines aboard those fleets living around the clock. They are launchig rockets/missles over 400 in the first 72 hours, each missile costs 1.5 to 3.5 million dollars. Remember someone must move those around to get them ready to fire. So their work day aboard is not normal right now.

I have been on cargo ships, transport ships and aircraft carriers. Life is a little different on all ships because of the size. Smaller ships have one mess deck for enlisted personnel. Air craft carriers have over 5000 men when fully activated and have 2 mess decks, at least one of them is open 24 hours a day. At Meal times both are open.

That would be a rocket coming over

Above would be fuel coming over And below would be the trip to the atsea grocery store.

All ships must be resupplied. At sea a supply ship will pull alongside to high-line supplies over. Ship crews form work-details to move all supplies hand to hand across decks and down to supply rooms. Supply ships can be for groceries, medical and office supplies etc. The munitions come from Ammo- supply ships, using the same procedures. That includes shells, rockets, bombs and anything having to do with fire power.

Working hours for the most part are same as ashore. There are ‘firewatches’ over the complete ship after normal working hours, with fire details ready at a moments notice 24/7. Fire is the most dangerous thing for a ship other than the ‘enemy.’

At times troops are transferred via high line. One of the top transfers is the Chaplain. Carriers have their own Chaplains both Catholic and protestant. Some do not like it, but the chaplains are trained in several religions and do what they can to satisfy the needs of the troops. When a smaller ship needs a chaplain he is sent over via high line. I have seen them Baptised as they went into the ocean when the ships leaned toward each other during the tranfer. He went down into the water then back up. This was no surprise, but he does get wet. His Sacred materials are prepared for such an incidence and are protected.

All USN ships have retail sales stores. Very small on smaller ships and much larger on Carriers.

All ships have a medical section. The carriers have a small hospital LOL.

Naturally all sailors look forward to pulling into port and having some liberty off the ship. (Not now of course.)

You can imagine how much ‘resupply’ is going on now. ALL those rockets and missiles must be replaced on the ships. This is the most any fleet has fired EVER before. Cost of this one so far has been about $28,000 per second. Now that is more than you will make next week.

Say a prayer for the troops, there is always danger, that is why it is called war.

Nite Shipslog

PS:

I have sailed the Med a couple times, it is absolutely beautiful blue water much like our Caribbean.. 

Ship stores?  You can buy tobacco, snacks, mail supplies etc. (very small 7-11  lol)

We all are praying this 'war' will end soon.