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Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group Earns Blue Water Certification

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS060509-06
5/9/2006

By Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Nathaniel Moger, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Public Affairs

USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, At Sea (NNS) -- USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 7, Destroyer Squadron 28 and the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group have been conducting Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPTUEX), and the team received Blue Water Certification, May 6.

Required before any deployment, Blue Water Certification will allow the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group to operate in areas without friendly divert airfields available.

Before achieving this, Eisenhower conducted flight operations within the parameters of “Bingo” fuel levels. The “Bingo” fuel level is the minimum amount of fuel necessary to divert an aircraft to a friendly airfield. However, during Blue Water Certification, midair refueling was used instead of diverting aircraft.

Other problems that aircraft might face downrange include equipment and landing gear malfunction.

“In a real-world situation, we may be in [an area] and there may be divert airfields available, but due to the political situation we won’t divert...we’ll rig the barricade,” explained Cmdr. Brian Allen, Eisenhower’s air operations officer.

Blue Water Certification provided a challenge for every department and organization involved with flight operations, from the personnel in the Carrier Air Traffic Control Center (CATCC), to the individual squadrons.

The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier’s own air department was confronted with the heaviest fly days they had yet seen. More than 100 sorties were required for two straight days in order to pass and put every facet of the department to the test.

“It takes so many people to launch aircraft; from the guys on the flight deck to the below deck guys, to the gear guys,” explained Cmdr. Wayne Harrison, Ike’s air boss. “I’ve got almost 700 people working for me, and if they’re not launching planes, they’re fixing equipment.”

It also meant incredibly long hours.

“[We don’t] work in shifts. The deck crews, they’re out there two hours prior to flight ops, and stay three hours after. So if we work a 12-hour day, my guys are out there 16, 17 hours or more,” said Harrison.

In order to receive Blue Water Certification, the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group had to achieve an event factor of less than 1.2 minutes, meaning during one cycle of flight operations, the deck crew, air operations and the pilots had to average less than one minute and 12 seconds to launch and recover an aircraft. This reduction in the amount of time aircraft could spend on deck meant the crew on the flight deck had to be organized and fast.

“[Blue Water Certification] forced us to get better,” explained Harrison. “Being able to shoot and recover jets faster bought more time on the backside for the team.”

Also, in order to pass, the boarding rate needed to be above 90 percent. This meant the pilots in Carrier Air Wing 7 had to catch the wire on the first attempt nine times out of 10.

Receiving Blue Water Certification broadens the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group’s operational reach to nearly anywhere.

“It makes us deployable worldwide,” said Allen.

Upon completion of COMPTUEX, Eisenhower and CVW-7 will continue to prepare for a deployment later this year.