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GW Gears Up to Gear Down for Upcoming Yard Period

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS041105-13
Release Date: 11/5/2004 4:03:00 PM

By Journalist Seaman (SW) Kary Favell, USS George Washington Public Affairs

USS GEORGE WASHINGTON, At Sea (NNS) -- USS George Washington (CVN 73) (GW) began an underway period Nov. 2, marking the third underway period for the surge carrier since returning from deployment in July.

With one underway remaining this year, the objectives while under way will be obtaining carrier qualifications (CQs) and training carrier qualifications (TCQs), a substantial ammunition offload and an annual reactor inspection, all of which will help this underway signify the closing of GW's surge status.

Over the next two weeks, GW will help new pilots earn their wings by helping them with their training carrier qualifications. These TCQs are the essential last step in any pilot's certification process. Long-time pilots are also doing CQs as refresher training.

Lt. j.g. Keith Morris, Carrier Air Traffic Control Center division officer, said he is excited about the first phase of the underway.

"So far things are going well," Morris said. "We're getting the pilots qualified and the air traffic controllers here have kept their skills up to speed."

GW Sailors involved in flight operations aren't the only ones who are keeping busy. Chief Aviation Ordnanceman (AW/SW) Jose Diaz, G-5's leading chief petty officer, said the weapons portion of this underway is going to be a big weight off of GW.

"We're doing a weapons offload for about four days that will take all the live explosives off the ship and prepare us for dry-dock. That will be about 2,160 tons of explosives," Diaz said.

Although the ordnance handling may sound like a volatile situation, Diaz said, it is business as usual.

"It is a dangerous process, but we're all properly trained to handle it," he said. "We're very experienced with this kind of evolution by now."

Up until the big four-day offload, Sailors will be busy doing maintenance on weapons elevators and double-checking inventories and packaging.

"We feel it's going to go very well," Diaz said. "We're well ahead of the other offloads we've done."

Operational Reactor Safeguard Exam (ORSE) is a yearly inspection to validate the safety of GW's nuclear reactors and their operations. According to Lt. j.g. Anthony Jared, it is the last portion of the underway and is actually a shipwide evolution.

"We couldn't do this without the entire ship. Personnel, supply, engineering - everybody contributes."

Jared said the evaluation spans four intense days, but does not require anything out of the ordinary for GW's reactor department.

"If you operate at a 5.0 level all the time, you don't have too much to worry about for ORSE," Jared said. "We're ready for this kind of inspection anytime."

GW's Reactor Department has built a successful history with ORSE inspections.

"We got a good solid average last year and have even improved things since then," said Jared. "We expect this trend of success to continue."

Although the year as surge carrier is coming to a close, Sailors are reminded not to lose focus on the tasks at hand.

"These are all things we'll take care of as a way of settling down and finishing up our commitment before we go into the yards," Morris said. "We just have to keep focused to bring this to a successful end."