The U.S. Navy submarine force is undermanned. The nuclear training that most of the sailors stationed on submarines are required to have, combined with the extremely selective process and the fact that being stationed on a submarine is completely voluntary, means that the manning numbers are at a decline . Cmdr. James Prouty, Commanding Officer of Navy Occupational Support Center (NOSC) Columbus, spent a good percentage of his naval career stationed on submarines. He believes that the reserve force is the answer to alleviate some of the manning issues that the submarines are having.
“A CS (Culinary Specialist) on a submarine does not have to be nuclear trained,” said Prouty. “They develop their skills through on-the-job training. A SELRES who is looking to transition to an active duty role could easily fill that gap.”
In order to both bring attention to the city’s namesake vessel and to the reserve force that is stationed in Columbus, Prouty organized a namesake visit for the crew of the attack submarine USS Columbus (SSN 762). The crew spent five days traveling around their namesake city and surrounding areas, explaining the importance of their boat and what submarines do. Prouty believes that the NOSCs can play a key role in building the relationships between navy vessels and their namesake city.
“Citizens of individual cities, more often than not, do not even know there is a ship or submarine named in their honor,” said Prouty. “The very same can be said for NOSCs. They should look to increase public awareness of a Navy presence in their respective areas. Who better to coordinate visits with city officials and organizations than the reservists that live and work in the cities they are promoting?”
Prouty believes that visits like this are not only an opportunity for the visiting Sailors, but also an opportunity for NOSC leadership to meet with active commanders to get a better understanding of how the NOSCs can best support the fleet. He intends to pursue this idea further.
“Perhaps, through casual conversation, relationships may blossom or ideas on how the SELRES can better support the fleet will arise,” said Prouty. “Commanding Officers might mention how they are having trouble finding Sailors to fill a role, and the SELRES might have the exact people they need. ”The representatives of the Columbus visited a number of locations throughout the Columbus area. They visited multiple Navy Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (NJROTC) at different high schools in Grove City, OH, as well as the Ohio State University Midshipmen. They also toured the National Veterans Memorial and Museum in Columbus, the Columbus Statehouse and the Columbus Supreme Court building. The crew was also honored at a Columbus Blue Jackets hockey game during the national anthem, and taught children about submariner life at the Center of Science and Industry Museum in Columbus.
Cmdr. Dustin Martin, Senior Naval Instructor at Grove City High School NJROTC, was pleased that the submariners taught his class about the submarine life and the Columbus. “I don’t think the majority of people know that there is a submarine named after Columbus (OH ),” said Martin. “It was nice to show the cadets Sailors that are stationed aboard a submarine, especially one named after a city in Ohio.”
The USS Columbus is a flexible, multi-mission platform designed to carry out the seven core competencies of the submarine force: anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, irregular warfare, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and mine warfare. It is 377 feet long, 34 feet wide, and weighs nearly 7,800 tons. It is powered by a nuclear reactor to push the boat through the water at speeds of more than 25 knots while submerged. As the most modern and sophisticated attack submarine in the world, the Columbus can operate in both littoral and deep ocean environments and presents combatant commanders with a broad and unique range of operational capabilities.
| Date Taken: | 02.16.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 02.21.2019 09:29 |
| Story ID: | 311406 |
| Location: | COLUMBUS, OHIO, US |
| Web Views: | 274 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, NOSC Columbus organizes USS Columbus namesake visit, builds submarine pride, by PO3 Luke Moyer, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
