WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – More than 48 sailors from Navy Expeditionary Logistics Support Group (NAVELSG) active duty battalion Navy Cargo Handling Battalion (NCHB 1), left Williamsburg, Jan. 24, for a peacetime mission in support of the National Science Foundation.
NCHB 1, the only Navy detachment supporting the National Science Foundation research at the South Pole, will arrive at Ross Island, Antarctica, on or about Jan. 28 and make port at McMurdo Station, the southern-most navigable harbor in the world.
Once there, Navy cargo handlers will meet MAERSK multi-purpose dry cargo ship, Illinois, to offload 20 million pounds of fresh supplies to support the scientists and researchers living year-round in the brutal environment. Cargo handlers will work around the clock for seven to 10 days in the continuous sunlight of the Antarctic summer.
“NCHB 1 has been a part of Operation Deep Freeze for over 50 years," said Lt. Cmdr. John Evans, executive officer for NCHB 1. "Our sailors who participate in this mission get the very unique experience of stepping on a continent that few have the opportunity to travel to.”
Despite working 12-hour shifts in the harshest conditions, sailors compete for the chance to go.
“It’s an experience that can be remembered forever,” said Logistics Specialist Seaman Cory Lord. “Not many people get to go on an adventure like this.”
The Navy has supported expeditions to Antarctica for more than a half century. Their specialized training and equipment continue to make them well-suited for the job.
"In a normal port entry operation we would contract stevedores locally to offload," said Benjamin Peabody deputy Operations from MSC's Sealift Logistics Command Atlantic. "However McMurdo is a once a year visit and without those sailors, we could not accomplish the total mission."
Once the fresh supplies are offloaded, the previous year's trash is hauled aboard the ships. By international agreement, researchers must save and export all waste to preserve the pristine polar environment.
The return shipment includes ice core samples that will provide scientists studying global climate change with information about the composition of the atmosphere hundreds of thousands of years ago.
NAVELSG is homeported in Williamsburg, Va., with an active battalion located at Cheatham Annex; with forward-deployed detachments and reserve battalions located across the United States. NAVELSG provides Sailors with the knowledge and skills needed to support the Fleet's surface and air-handling mission. More than 100 sailors and civilians work hand in hand with the Fleet and are dedicated to ensuring training is current and well executed on behalf of 3,500 active duty and reserve sailors in the administration, logistics and training of their active and reserve components’.
| Date Taken: |
01.24.2014 |
| Date Posted: |
01.28.2014 11:54 |
| Story ID: |
119759 |
| Location: |
WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: |
311 |
| Downloads: |
0 |
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This work, NAVELSG’S NCHB-1 departs for peacetime mission in Antarctica, by CPO Edward Kessler, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
