O'Kane Comes Home
Navy Newsstand
Story Number: NNS030805-12
Release Date: 8/5/2003 9:24:00 PM
By Lt. Arwen Consaul, Navy Region Hawaii Public Affairs
PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (NNS) -- It was early Monday morning, but that didn't stop the family members of the guided-missile destroyer USS O'Kane (DDG 77) from gathering at the pier awaiting the ship's arrival. It had been six months since family and friends last saw the crew of the O'Kane.
Pearl Harbor's newest surface ship, O'Kane, departed Jan. 17, six months earlier than scheduled, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and contingency operations. It was the last Pearl Harbor-based ship to arrive home.
The dynamic deployment incorporated numerous taskings, including operations with coalition forces supporting the global war on terrorism, high value shipping escorts, Tomahawk cruise missile tasking, ballistic missile defense duties and patrol of Iraqi territorial waters. These missions have taken O'Kane to destinations such as the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
Through the changing operations, O'Kane has worked for four carrier strike groups, three coalition task forces and five destroyer squadrons. It has operated with Australian, British, Canadian, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Spanish and New Zealand navies. While such unique tasking makes for an invaluable and interesting deployment, it also presents certain challenges that have kept the O'Kane crew extremely busy.
With six deployments under his belt, including the Gulf War, Operations Specialist 1st Class (SW) Shayne T. Brazelton has plenty of experience, but admitted he has never seen anything like this.
"Normally, you are always in one place working for one commander," said Brazelton. "On this deployment, the entire mission and whole dynamics have been (continuously) changing, which has been a challenge, but also a learning experience. In the big picture, the goal is the same, but everybody does things a little differently, so we've had to be able to adjust."
Operations Specialist 1st Class (SW) Shawn M. Bollinger, also a veteran of six deployments, added, "The biggest challenge was being prepared for tasking with ships we had no experience in working with. We really didn't know what to expect, especially from the coalition ships, but we were ready and we did well."
A relatively new mission for the Navy, and one O'Kane didn't expect, was ballistic missile defense early warning (spotlight) duties. After launching Tomahawk missiles from the Red Sea during the opening phases of Operation Iraqi Freedom, O'Kane sprinted to the extreme Northern Arabian Gulf and assumed spotlight duties from USS Higgins (DDG 76).
The data Higgins provided during its detected launches is being directly attributed to saving numerous lives. The entire O'Kane crew realized the importance of spotlight duties and pulled together to prepare and make it a success.
As one of O'Kane's identification supervisors, Operations Specialist Seaman Anthony P. Skievaski worked with the air warfare coordinator, and played a direct role in identifying launches and communicating applicable information to joint forces. Skievaski admitted he was a bit nervous at first.
"Since I was a junior Sailor, I was kind of surprised that they trusted me with such responsibility," he said. "But I knew I could do the job, and it was rewarding to know how important it could have been."
From small boat patrols in Iraqi territorial waters, operations with coalition forces supporting the global war on terrorism, Tomahawk cruise missile launches, to spotlight duties to high value shipping escorts, O'Kane adjusted to the continuously changing mission and executed all tasking expeditiously and professionally.
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