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Wasp Successfully Completes Underway Demonstration

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS050810-04
Release Date: 8/10/2005 11:51:00 AM

By Fire Controlman 3rd Class Chad Polenz, USS Wasp Public Affairs

ABOARD USS WASP (NNS) -- The multipurpose amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1) successfully completed the final phase of its engineering department’s Underway Demonstration June 23, a major step toward making the ship deployable under the new Fleet Response Plan (FRP).

Over the course of a weeklong underway period off the coast of Virginia, Wasp’s engineering department proved to Afloat Training Group, Atlantic - the Navy’s inspectors who evaluate and certify ships for autonomous operation - that it has the capabilities to safely light off and operate the power plant, conduct routine operations, maintenance and evolutions, as well as combat emergency situations.

In early 2005, Wasp underwent a four-month maintenance availability period at the Norfolk Shipbuilding Company shipyards in downtown Norfolk and returned to Naval Station Norfolk April 27. It was Wasp’s first and only shipyard visit since returning from a seven-month deployment in September 2004. Wasp went out to sea several times during the months of May and June to begin initial work-up phases and concluded with the underway demonstration.

“When we come out of the yards, we have to go through a series of hurdles,” said Lt. Cmdr. Charles Webb, Wasp’s chief engineer. “We have to go through a light-off assessment to demonstrate the ship is safe to light fires in its boilers. We have to go through fire drills to make sure we can put a fire out in case anything happens."

These drills, paired with an underway demonstration, show that Wasp can safely operate the engineering plant and do routine evolutions.

Webb said Wasp completed all these objectives in an abbreviated timeframe due to directives of the FRP, and was the first ship in U.S. 2nd Fleet to do so. Another achievement by Wasp was its above-average grade of 84.3 percent – a mark achieved by only 5 percent of all ships in the Navy.

The engineering department was inundated with work when the ship’s power plant was lit off after being at "cold iron" for an extended time in the shipyards. Its duty rotation collapsed from eight to three sections, and the crew’s normal working hours increased to upwards of 12 hours a day.

“We did what would normally be an 18-month training cycle in about a six-month period, with 35 percent reduced manpower,” said Senior Chief Machinist's Mate James Carlberg. “It’s the Super Bowl Sunday of engineering inspections.”