Destroyer Life at Sea, Part III-Replenishments

One of many waves that soaked us!

You may be looking at the picture and going “wow, that’s a big wave”, and to that, I say yes, it was a big wave…but, there’s a story behind it (of course…if not, why the hell would I be posting?) That was during an UNREP (Underway Replenishment)/Replenishment at Sea (RAS) with the USS Carl Vinson. We were taking on a 100K or so gallons of fuel.

RAS’s happen frequently-a couple times a week. We get everything via a RAS, in some form (CONREP-connected replenishment, VERTREP-vertical replenishment). This includes fuel, supplies, stores, and even mail. Hell, we can even do a PAX (passenger) transfer during a RAS, so we can get new people too, if you want to get technical.

The bow is the front part of the ship (you can see it in the picture). The focsle is up on the bow, and that’s where the anchor chains are, among other things. When we do an UNREP, there are people on the focsle who send over the “Phone & Distance” (or P&D) line. This hooks up a communication link between us and the other ship, while also having flags every 20 feet so that the bridge knows how close we are to the other ship (obviously, we don’t want to get too close due to chance of collision, nor do we want to get too far, because the hoses/lines only go so far). So, we have a phone talker, a Safety Officer or two (that’s what I was up there for) and some line handlers and a line handler POIC (Petty Officer in Charge). If we’re the ones sending the line over, then a Gunner’s Mate shoots the line across, hoping to make it on the ship. Since this was with a Carrier, it was far easier for them to shoot across. So, they shot a line across and we tied our P&D line to it, then they heaved it over and connected it.

So, that’s the basis of how these go. Why am I writing about this one in particular? Well, look at that wave crashing over the bow of the ship. Now, take the fact that I told you that there were approximately a dozen of us on the focsle at that time-we got absolutely drenched. The sea state (how calm/not calm the sea is) was rough during this evolution, and we got beat up pretty good up there on the focsle. We didn’t lose anyone, no one fell down, and we never lost control of the line, but it wasn’t easy. We had several waves like the one pictured, a lot of spray coming off the sea, and at a couple of different times, there was this near-sleet that was hitting us (and, yes, it stung).

I was wetter than I’d probably ever been, and my boots even took about 3 days to dry out. But, you know what? It was incredibly fun. And, this was the first time I’d had to do something like that, so now I feel like a “real” Destroyer sailor. Too bad it took 3 deployments and over 4 years on a Destroyer to get that feeling, huh?