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GW Sailors Get Up Close During Dry Dock Tour

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS050823-11
Release Date: 8/23/2005 1:43:00 PM

By Journalist 3rd Class (SW) Jennifer Crowell, USS George Washington Public Affairs

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (NNS) -- USS George Washington (CVN 73) (GW) Sailors lined up to view the bottom of their warship Aug. 16 and 18, when the commanding officer, Capt. Garry R. White, allowed the crew to tour the dry dock while the ship was undergoing maintenance at Northrop Grumman Newport News (NGNN) Shipyard in Virginia.

The two-day, two-hour dry dock tours allowed the ship’s crew to view maintenance that was completed on the hull, rudders and screws.

GW is currently at NGNN for a scheduled docked planned incremental availability (DPIA). The ship arrived Jan. 28 and is scheduled to return to the fleet later this year. According to Cmdr. Kent Whalen, GW’s executive officer, the crew has been curious to see what has been going on down in the dry dock.

“These tours developed from feedback from the crew,” Whalen said. “Our sea warriors have worked hard on the ship, but haven’t been able to see what it looks like from this perspective, the dry dock. We really wanted to make that happen for them.”

Information Systems Technician 3rd Class Charles Carroll from GW’s combat systems department said being under the ship was a one-of-a-kind experience.

“It’s not every day you get to come down here and see the bottom of an aircraft carrier,” he said. “I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity the command is giving us.”

Photographer’s Mate Airman Apprentice Joshua Olson, a GW operations department Sailor, said being able to take time out of the day to experience something so unusual helped inspire a sense of pride. He was on hand to take photographs to document what has been accomplished by GW Sailors and NGNN shipyard workers.

“It’s great to be a part of something so few Sailors will have the chance to see in their lifetime,” he said.

While seeing the hull out of the water is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, for some, like Lt. Cmdr. Chris Delarosa, GW’s damage control assistant, it is all part of the job.

According to Delarosa, even though most Sailors will experience pierside availabilities at least once, dry-dock maintenance happens less frequently. During dry-dock availability, the ship sits on steel plates that allow shipyard workers to do maintenance on the hull, rudders, and propellers.

“Being in dry dock allows us to clean the underwater hull,” he said. “The hull also receives a fresh coat of paint to help prevent corrosion, which destroys the smoothness of the hull and can slow a ship down.”

Even though Delarosa has been in the dry dock many times as workers removed the screws and began hull maintenance, he said it has been nice to come back.

“It feels good coming back near the end of this period to see all the work everyone has done,” he said. “It not only makes the hull look pretty, but it makes GW a better ship.”