THE CALL OF BLUE WATER

hundreds of years men have been putting to sea and ships and all that time many things have changed the ship's most of all and the weapons they carry sailors of course have changed too with the mariner who scrambled up the rigging set his course by starlight knew the hardship and excitement life under sail find much in common with the seafarers of today's Navy submarine below and the airplane above have brought new dimensions to naval warfare each with its own breed of dedicated man but the surface sailor still knows what it means to feel salt spray over the fo'c'sle as he meets the special challenges known only to those who pursue life on the sea today's surface sailor whether he's on watching the fire room or in command on the bridge can take pride in this nautical heritage the surface forces have been brought together from the former Cruiser destroyer service mine warfare and amphibious type commands to do a big job as I visit in the fleet and talk with the Navy people who are the backbone of the new Atlantic and Pacific surface force commands it's gratifying to see how well we're working together with the air and submarine warfare elements as a team to carry out the missions of our one Navy this film takes a look at our role on the surface of the world's oceans through the eyes of the proud professionals of the surface warfare community you for most surface sailors going to see is one of life's reality as in any worthwhile pursuit there are positive aspects and some that can be very trying a lot depends on the individual you by and large today's surface sailor takes a professional approach to what he does at sea for some it's an exciting labour of life for others the separation from family is difficult and the long hours exhausting but there is through it all the satisfaction of real accomplishment the stimulating challenge of meeting the sea on its own terms and the pride felt by all Patriots for their role in defense of country after being on six ships over a ten-year period I remember the one common thing we did is replenish at sea you know this can it was kind of a thrill when you get up on the bridge and and you start maneuvering to get it in position in the waiting station and then your final burst into station alongside thrill replenishment is seeing the whole ship operate as a team it's the one evolution that every man on the ship gets involved in in order to get the job done and they have to be a finally home trained team that knows each other's job and depends on each other to get it done in order to have a successful evolution after all the important things like fuel and bullets groceries have been transferred that you always manage to have a few minutes that to trade ten movies and get a couple of bags of mail off and now it just kind of makes the whole thing worthwhile I grew up near a seaport and all these photo pad in the back of my mind going to see and I guess that's an essential element of the Navy really is people going to sea and ships and that's really what it's all about it's not the ordinary nine-to-five job and the same time it's quite a challenge to be able to meet the demands and just stay up with in general basically it's the it's the man and the job all the other factors the port visits the Liberty time the number of sections aboard ship have an effect but not merely a great as effective job satisfied knowing that when you send a recommendation up to the bridge to avoid a contact that when you look at it you're saving somebody's life you know it gives you selling gratification and uh there's a big responsibility how many guys that are 30 years old I behind it for going to see is the name of the game I enjoy going to see there's a lot of responsibility there's a lot of in the present maybe there's a lot of just pure boring drudgery on the other hand signaling up getting on your way kind of makes the whole thing worthwhile I think sure do to take some that throw away you got to keep remembering it bringing it back telling these stories remind yourself of it I have always liked that biggest thrill to me in the Navy and that's remember back as a seaman when I came in with an old what's your class tin-can was my first ship and it gave me great thrill to stand on the main deck of the ship but it was making a high speed run through the waters and the Caribbean it's just fantastic the ship is sitting there and you're standing on the decadence just vibrating look like man you can feel yourself partnership and you're it's almost like like you're cutting through the water yourself and I find that very exciting there are other times however doing paperwork running around trying to make sure everything is squared away and everybody's where he's close to me then that's that's more drudgery that's not excitement it's just I should work even my wife of course she doesn't like seven-month deployments but you can spend three weeks at home in two weeks at sea I really kind of think that makes her happier too gets me out of the house and out from underfoot that's a bachelor for some 13 years the Navy I would not really understand how the married people felt during the family session and now for some experiences and I think that this is probably the single biggest negative factors that I have ever experienced in today you know I i get rid a lot of negative aspects to navy logic if you look at him as negative aspects I I don't really look at them as negative aspects I think most career Navy men don't look at him I think they look at them as challenging a situation clearly the call of the sea is not for every man to answer it takes a particular outlook and determination to be the kind of surface sailor who really enjoys doing what he does to the best of his ability over the years these special people have thought of themselves as destroying or mine sweep sailors or gay the skills of surface warfare our best sharpened at sea but the basics can be learned in the classroom most of the officers and men receive extensive training ashore before they become surface sailors many go back from time to time building the considerable body of knowledge that a modern Surface Warfare force must maintain you Surface Warfare Officer school is producing a really truly professional officer the kind of officer who lets you sleep well at night when you're in a task force with ships close around you the basic mission of swass is to put a usable instant into the fleet our ships are getting more and more complex we have to have a higher quality input we need to have people with current knowledge and we have to give specialized training just before people enter into the business of driving a ship not many but a few of the guys coming out of here are going to be Admirals in 30 years whether the community is good bad or indifferent depends to a large measure on how well we do our jobs and I think it's exciting me personally I was kind of scared to death when I found out that I was going to the surface fleet because my background is basically engineering I feel that I'm a much more rounded individual because of a telling swash then I would have been if I'd have been sent directly to the ship and I think traditionally when you said you were going into the surface community you are looked on as a second class citizen it gee it's too bad why couldn't you get into aviation or why couldn't you get into subs and I think now the surface community is beginning to be looked upon us as a viable essential part of the Navy team effort I'm often asked about the changing nature of the u.s. blue jacket how is he different from when you first joined the Navy he's very different and very much the same he is older more married better-educated more curious and more likely to make helpful critical recommendations for improving operations and I like those changes but he's just the same just like he was when I joined the Navy in World War two in terms of interest love of the sea and the capability to perform as a member of the ship's company he's a lot less likely to admit it than he was then but he's no less capable as important as willing and qualified people are it takes ships modern ships with effective weapon systems to maintain a surface force that is ready and able to carry out its missions these ships are a complex blending of awesome firepower sophisticated electronic systems the most modern oil and nuclear powered propulsion plants and concern for the habitation of the men who must make it all work the Spruance class destroyer is one of the new classes of ships now joining the fleet this class is being built in Pascagoula Mississippi there are a total of thirty ships in the program and a number are already at sea we expect great things from this highly capable destroyer another new class of ships is the amphibious assault ship the LH a I recently inspected the Tarawa laha one the first ship of the class from stem to stern I was tremendously impressed with her capabilities she is a splendid addition to the Navy Marine Corps team the Oliver Hazard Perry first of the FF g7 class has been launched at Bath Maine this is a relatively small ship by today's standards but the Perry is almost twice the tonnage of World War two destroyers and is of course a much more capable hard-hitting ship we are adding a new nuclear-powered class of cruisers the Virginia to those nuclear-powered cruisers already in the fleet these are fine high endurance ships that can operate either with a nuclear-powered carrier or independently for the Virginia class have already been authorized nucular power means to us an ability to operate for days at a time either with the Nimitz that's off our starboard side right now or with other ships without having to rely on support ashore in addition to the nuclear propulsion plants we have on our surface ships today most of our combatants are powered by the dependable 1,200 pound propulsion system and of course our amphibious ships have the diesel propulsion plant which gives us tremendous economy and those plants are also very dependable the new gas turbine which is going into many of our newer class ships will give us an economy that we haven't had before especially at higher speeds I've had living conditions that were comparable but that was on the Kitty Hawk carrier also on an LKA brand new living conditions were about the same here you can tell there was thought put into it as far as the heads the showers and the birthing compartment it just seems to be a lot more space all the way around compared to the size of the ship and the general layout the living conditions board is shipped from what I'm used to leave something to be desired they it's not too much room these other guys think there is but they can't remember what it was like at home these splendid ships and men form a capable team and a major part of the Navy's overall strength the formerly separate communities mine warfare the cruisers and destroyers the replenishment repair and amphibious ships have now been unified into the forces of surface warfare well I think the tender has a really very very significant role in surface warfare and a Navy today and of course a primary mission of Oz is our repair mission I think we have to consider the role of the tender as is really an advanced mobile floating naval base and as such we don't limit our role to surface warfare we we have tended and provided services to submarines to aircraft carriers however predominantly we we service surface warfare it shifts the mission of the mine warfare force is to ensure that we have the capability to keep our harbors open we have really two sides of the problem we can drop the mines and close someone else's Harvard and we want to keep our own harbors open up until five years ago the mind force consisted virtually entirely of surface vessels in today's environment the minesweeper works jointly with the air contingent the helicopter up and down both coasts for the exception of three mine sweepers they're all researchers and our capability in that force would be greatly diminished good after heroes participation well I don't believe that the creation of the surface warfare community has substantially altered the role of the surface forces they still have the role of providing the mobile logistic support for the whole fleet the carriers as well as the surface forces we still have our marine Navy team working together in the amphibious role and of course we still have our traditional cruiser destroyer role of doing almost anything on the surface from defending against air attack against submarine attack our defending the amphibious forces are providing the screen for the mobile logistic support forces are indeed supporting the amphibious landing with gunfire support as it has always been one of the rewards for the arduous work and hardship of the surface sailors routine is the opportunity for travel adventure and new experiences and ports of call around the world I like to travel well I like to travel sometimes but not as much as this ship does well I never been too thrilled about that either I read on the tire too late to go to see you get the job done and come on that's it a part of what we do every day in the naval surface force what I call fun and game for the younger personnel it's a chance to fulfill that old models join the Navy and see the world all of these are strange and new experiences part of the promise of life part of what it means to be a sailor but what it really means to be a sailor is to go to see and enjoy the experience of being tested to prove that you can really do the things that you've dreamed about to test yourself against the world our whole reason for being out here is to fight that battle the only way you can do that is the sufficiently be careful he's constantly Bridge combat lam chi lo reports radar sinker dad imbere 2698 I'm on the thread reaction time is so short that if it takes us two minutes to respond to a threat we may have already been dead for one this is a drill this is a drill General Quarters General Quarters All Hands man your battle stations I'll face moorman register mogi 12 now bears 269 or degrees 50 miles condition yellow birds tight bogey 12 now bears to six Niner 40 miles condition red birds free the surface warfare community may be new in name but the pride and spirit of its people reached far back in time the ships are sleek and sophisticated now but every Seafarer who earlier sailed these same waters for his country would recognize a kinship with the surface sailor of today and would share his pride in answering the call of blue water now secure the special sea and anchor detail set the normal enjoy watch on deck section 2 as you can see the surface forces play a major part in the Navy's worldwide missions the ships and weapons they man are good and getting better but the most important assets we have are the people who serve with pride and dedication the challenges they face are always tough and the rewards sometimes hard to appreciate but our surface sailors stand with a reputation for performance and the highest naval traditions and I'm proud of the next two CNO sitreps will tell the stories of aviation and submarine warfare although each of the three communities is unique in its warfare specialty they all share the commitment to our nation's defense through sea power you