• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Bataan Returns to Sea, Offloads Ammo

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS070814-10
Release Date: 8/14/2007 1:56:00 PM

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class (SW/AW) Joanne De Vera, USS Bataan Public Affairs

NORFOLK (NNS) -- One month after returning from a six-month deployment, the multi-purpose amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5) returned to sea for a transit to conduct a successful ammunition offload Aug. 6-10, at Naval Weapons Station Earle, N.J.

Sailors in Bataan’s Weapons Department moved approximately 1,100 pallets that they had prestaged in the ship’s hangar bay and upper vehicle stowage. This totaled nearly two million pounds and approximately $75 million in ammunition moved in just five days.

“All of my AOs (Aviation Ordnancemen) were on the ship working the entire time we were in Earle,” said Chief Warrant Officer David McVadon, Bataan’s ordnance handling officer. “They knew coming in that they weren’t going to get any liberty, but they also knew they had a big job ahead of them and they executed that job well.”

The pallets contained various types of bombs, missiles, rockets and small arms ammunition. Along with safety precautions set around the ship, Weapons Department personnel received training long before the offload in order to execute the evolution without a hitch.

“All the training we did in the past six months went to this week,” said Aviation Ordnanceman 1st Class (AW/SW) Jason Mitchell, Ordnance Control supervisor. “The experience of the guys we have aboard made packaging, inventorying and staging the ammo easy and made the whole offload a success.”

New personnel within the department took on the challenge of their first ammo offload. Aviation Ordnanceman 1st Class (AW/NAC) Richard George, leading petty officer for G-2 division, said even the most junior Sailors handled the offload with professionalism.

“Our younger guys really took the offload as a chance to learn exactly what their job is about,” said George. “There were no complaints, they took each day in stride and performed their jobs very well.”

Some Sailors took the offload not only as a big mission, but also as a prelude to future events.

“This was my very first offload, and it was definitely a lot of hard work,” said Aviation Ordnanceman 3rd Class Jessica Slutzky. “We worked until about midnight every night bringing all of the ammo up from the magazines and staging them in the hangar bay. I’ll still be on the ship for her next deployment, and I’ll be ready for the next time we do this.”