U.S. Navy Concludes 'Crew Swap' in Australia
Story Number: NNS030221-11
2/21/2003
By Navy Journalist 2nd Class David McKee, Navy Public Affairs Center, San Diego
PERTH, Australia (NNS) -- The U.S. Navy concluded the first of three crew swaps involving the Spruance-class destroyer USS Fletcher (DD 992), in Perth, Australia, recently.
The swap began when Sailors from the recently retired destroyer USS Kinkaid (DD 965) flew from their home port in San Diego to relieve the Fletcher crew.
At a time when the Navy has more commitments and fewer resources, the U.S. Navy is trying the three-crew, one vessel experiment to maximize the deployment of naval assets.
"It takes 45 days for a crew to sail a ship from San Diego to the Persian Gulf," said Lt. Cmdr. William B. Seaman Jr., Fletcher's new executive officer. "This means that when you include the return trip, you have invested 90 days into getting that ship on station. By simply swapping crews, you maintain an asset in a particular region longer without tiring the crew."
Commander, Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet (SURFPAC), scheduled the sea swap initiative in the summer of 2002. As it was then, the intention is still to test the effectiveness of maintaining a single ship in a forward deployed location for 18 months while conducting only periodic and minor maintenance.
In six months, the crew of USS Oldendorf (DD 972) will take control of Fletcher. Oldendorf will then be decommissioned. Four months later, Fletcher will return to the United States where it will be decommissioned. This will conclude the first phase of the sea swap trial, which will be followed up by a second phase involving Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.
Since the sea swap initiative is an ongoing experiment, SURFPAC staff members and members of the crew from Oldendorf (DD 972) were on hand to observe the evolution. They met Fletcher in Bahrain and rode it back with Sailors from Kinkaid.
"We found that the crew was more than ready," said Master Chief David W. Flannery, who is assigned to SURFPAC. "We did most of the turnover of responsibilities underway with crew members of Kinkaid who boarded in Bahrain."
The first step is complete, and only time will reveal how well the ship will physically hold up under a deployment phase that is three times longer than normal. Still, Flannery observed that the sea swap initiative is off to a good beginning.
"It went smoothly," Flannery said. "I haven't seen the statistics, but it looked like a well-executed plan."
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