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George H.W. Bush Is Evaluated During Crew Certification III

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS160317-02
Release Date: 3/17/2016 8:48:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Connor McDermott, USS George H.W. Bush Public Affairs

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (NNS) -- Afloat Training Group Atlantic (ATG) boarded USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) March 14 to evaluate the ship's ability to go to sea as part of Phase III of Crew Certification.

Crew Certification Phase III is the process by which the ship, Carrier Strike Group 2, supported by the Commander Naval Air Force Atlantic, and ATG, ensures the crew is qualified and the carrier is ready to proceed safely to sea, following a maintenance period.

Crew Cert III plays a vital role in the ship's mission readiness by assessing the basic underway functional areas required to proceed to sea safely. This includes safety, damage control, man overboard drills and navigation drills.

'Having the ship complete Crew Cert III means that the ship and her crew are ready and capable of handling any situation be it combat, medical, damage control or anything else thrown at her, and it's a big step towards us reaching our goal of returning this ship to sea,' said Chief Aviation Ordinanceman (AW/SW) Orlando Swinger, the departmental leading chief petty officer for the ship's Training department.

During Crew Cert III, evaluators spent two days evaluating the crew's state of training during simulated underway operations emphasizing emergency drills. This is an essential process to ensure that a ship is ready to proceed to sea safely with a qualified crew upon completion of new construction or a repair period greater than nine months.

'Crew Cert III evaluates whether the crew is ready to protect the ship from any casualty that may occur,' said Swinger. 'It is a major test for all of the ship's departments.'

Engineering department's Damage Control (DC) division is evaluated on their ability to train the ship's crew in proper damage control and firefighting procedures.

'ATG makes sure we are capable of both fighting the ship and training our crew,' said Damage Controlman 3rd Class (SW/AW) Jonathon Hill. 'We train anybody and everybody in everything damage control. Right after new check-ins go through indoc [command indoctrination] they come straight to us for damage control training.'

Medical department is also affected by the Crew Cert process.

'The Crew Certification III team evaluates us on the administration side and everything from the training component to the practical applications of medical while we are fighting the ship,' said Ship's Nurse Lt. Cmdr. Marcelo Centaure. 'They are making sure we are qualified and ready.'

With Crew Cert III complete, GHWB will continue to prepare for the other milestones required to return the ship to an operational status, specifically a Fast Cruise and Sea Trials, a four-day underway period to test the carrier's systems and overall mission readiness.

USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) is currently undergoing maintenance during a planned incremental availability at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Va.