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Cushing completes successful underway demonstration

7th Fleet News

Release Date: 9/23/2003

By Lt. j.g. Cholwan Ahn, USS Cushing public affairs

YOKOSUKA, Japan -- USS Cushing (DD 985) successfully completed its underway demonstration (UD), marking a significant step forward in its training cycle. Since the Spruance-class destroyer entered dry dock in February, Cushing has been training hard to prepare for any mission.

An underway demonstration a big step toward Cushing's certification as a mission-capable destroyer. A team from Afloat Training Group San Diego rode the ship for several days, inspecting every aspect of Cushing's engineering department. The programs evaluated included looking at the material condition of engineering spaces, heat stress and hearing conservation.

In addition to these items, the two Condition III engineering watch sections were also drilled and evaluated on their effectiveness in dealing with engineering casualties. A Condition III engineering watch is the normal, steaming watch stood by Sailors while underway. These drills were perhaps the most challenging aspects of UD, because they required flawless responses to casualties that can have more than 30 procedural steps. A mistake on any one of these steps meant a failure in that particular drill or evolution.

With the experienced leadership of main propulsion assistant Ensign Danny Wilbanks, Chief Gas Turbine Systems Technician (Mechanical) (SW) Tim Kranz, and the engineering officers of the watch for their respective watch teams, Cushing was evaluated as effective on both engineering evolutions and drills.

If it wasn't for the hard work of our people, none of this would have been remotely possible, Wilbanks said.

Cushing successfully completed one of the most difficult portions of its training cycle, and now moves on to complete its remaining training requirements. The ship's next task is their Final Evaluation Problem (FEP), an in-depth training cycle designed to test the ability of its crew to react to real-time battle scenarios.