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USS GEORGE WASHINGTON, At Sea
– The U.S. Navy's forward-deployed aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) celebrated a significant milestone in the ship's history, June 13.
George Washington conducts more daily,
flight sorties and recoveries than any other aircraft carrier in the
fleet, allowing the ship to conduct its 150,000th safe arrested
landing since its commissioning July 4, 1992.
"Because we are part of the forward-deployed naval force, we reached
this milestone faster than most carriers," said Lt. Chris Denton
from Angleton, Texas, George Washington's arresting gear branch
officer. "We launch more aircraft and have fewer no-fly days than
anyone else in the fleet."
The Sailors who maintain George Washington's arresting gear work
around-the-clock to ensure that the arresting gear cables can safely
catch aircraft from its embarked air wing, Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5.
"Our operational tempo has a heavy impact on the arresting gear, and
our Sailors that work in the gears are feeling it," said Denton. "We
fly more than 100 daily sorties, and they work tirelessly to ensure
that we can conduct our operations safely. Say what you will about
our catapults, the ship can't maintain a warfighter-ready stance
without a fully functioning arresting gear."
George Washington's aviation boatswain's mates (equipment) work
16-22 hours daily in the arresting gear engine rooms, monitoring the
gear cables, communicating between the gear rooms and the flight
deck, and conducting daily maintenance.
"When the wing is not flying, we are still working," said Aviation
Boatswain's Mate (Equipment) Airman Brittany Hearne from Colorado
Springs, Colo., one of the Sailors working on the arresting gears.
"We are constantly doing maintenance on our equipment. We have to
take readings on anything that gets used, and inspect it to make
sure that the equipment doesn't fall apart to wear and tear."
Because of the Sailors' busy schedule, the 150,000th milestone
almost went by unnoticed, said Hearne. "Today was just another day
for us down in the engine rooms, until we heard the number
mentioned," said Hearne. "We fly so often that it's no surprise that
we've hit this 150,000 mark so soon."
Arresting gear Sailors, along with George Washington and CVW-5
senior leadership, attended a cake-cutting ceremony in honor of the
milestone.
Lt. Cmdr. Colin Price, from Brandon, Fla., assigned to the
"Diamondbacks" of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 102, the pilot who
conducted the 150,000th landing, and Aviation Boatswain's Mate
(Equipment) 3rd Class Eric Brown, from Brigham City, Utah, the
engine operator who caught Price's aircraft, had the honor of
cutting the cake.
"Because we're so busy, I would've never known about this milestone
if it hadn't been mentioned to me," said Brown. "We catch aircraft
day in and day out; we had no reason to believe that today was
special. This is truly something for the history books and something
I can pass down to tell my children that I took part in something so
significant."
George Washington departed Fleet Activities Yokosuka May 26 to begin
its 2012 patrol. George Washington and CVW 5 provide a combat-ready
force that protects and defends the collective maritime interests of
the U.S. and its allies and partners in the Asia-Pacific region. |
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