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Cape St. George Wraps the Year Up at Surface Line Week

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS061106-18
Release Date: 11/6/2006 3:08:00 PM

By Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Kenneth R. Hendrix, Fleet Public Affairs Center Atlantic

NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- Sailors aboard the guided-missile cruiser USS Cape St. George (CG 71) participated in Surface Line Week (SLW) 2006 from Oct. 30 to Nov. 3 at Naval Station Norfolk after completing a week of advanced training at sea.

SLW puts Sailors against one another in various physical, mental and skill competitions to promote camaraderie, rating skill development, and team work.

Many of the events are divided into three categories: large, medium and small, according to a command’s personnel size, while others are straight competitions with no categories.

During the week, Cape’s Sailors participated in two athletic events, basketball and softball, and professional competitions including maneuvering board (MOBOARD), search and rescue (SAR), welding, cutting, and cake decorating.

In the softball tournament, Cape’s defensive play won the competition.

“We take part in the game as a team, playing the best ball that we can play and to come out with a victory,” said Chief Sonar Technician (Surface) (SW) Ben Willis, softball team coach.

Cape came up short in the basketball tournament, falling out in the second round.

“Being that this is a pre-season tournament for the [basketball] team, it’s nice to see where we are at before the season starts,” said Storekeeper 2nd Class (SW) William Hall, basketball team coach. “And it’s also good for everyone to go out and have fun at the same time while playing.”

In MOBOARD challenge, Cape took second place in the medium command category.

“The material was very familiar, and since we were able to work in teams, that made answering the problems easier, demonstrating the Navy life of operating as a team, not as an individual,” said Operations Specialist 2nd Class (SW) Caleb Barker, MOBOARD team participant.

Boatswain’s Mate Seaman Nathan Salmon helped Cape claim third place in the search and rescue swimmers competition and was pleased with their performance.

“It’s nice to compete in a competition to see which ship is the best, because this is our job when we are underway, and you want show that you’re the best,” said Salmon.

This past year, Cape, as a guided-missile ship, has performed a wide variety of missions, including maritime security operations (MSO) in the Persian Gulf. They also battled a group of suspected pirates in the Indian Ocean in March 18 while conducting MSO with CTF 150, a maritime coalition led by Royal Netherlands Navy Commodore Hank Ort.

Now the Sailors aboard Cape are gearing up and getting ready for the shipyard, as the ship undergoes refits and upgrades to an all-electric combat systems platform.