Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Ruben Reed | USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) pulls alongside USNS Patuxent (T-AO 201) during a...... read more read more
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The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford’s (CVN 78) full pallet capable stores elevators design significantly reduces crew workload and provides access to almost all of supply department’s storage compartments which reduces the time it takes to on-load stores. These elevators were put to the test during a replenishment-at-sea (RAS) with USNS Patuxent (T-AO 201), May 15.
“Stores elevators are a significant advantage Ford-class carriers have over Nimitz-class carriers,” said Cmdr. Carl Koch from Chicago, Ford’s supply officer. “They offer a direct benefit to supply department Sailors in providing us the capability to strike full pallets of repair parts and subsistence to the storerooms without breaking them down. After using stores conveyors on Nimitz-class ships and the full pallet stores elevators on Ford, I couldn't imagine going back. This is a tremendous leap forward in our capability and flexibility as a supply department.”
Ford’s first-in-class design uses 10 programmable logic-controlled, machinery driven elevators, over centralized supply storage spaces through multiple levels arrayed fore to aft. This vertical integration of centralized storerooms significantly increases storage capabilities and eliminates the need for large ship-force working parties.
Sailors that have served aboard other ships find it shocking that large 50-man or 100-man working parties are not used during a logistical resupply aboard Ford. A receiving team can place full pallets on an elevator, send to the proper level, off-load pallet, and then store the entire pallet in the storage space. Koch explained that Ford’s stores elevators increase operational capabilities.
To keep the fleet underway and supporting operations, Navy ships conduct a RAS to restock different classes of supplies. During a RAS pallets of supplies are either passed on wires strung between both ships called connected replenishment (CONREP) or through vertical replenishment (VERTREP) via a helicopter that slings a cargo net-wrapped pallet from underneath its frame ship to ship.
During Ford’s RAS with Patuxent, Ford received 425 thousand gallons of aircraft fuel (JP5) and 143 pallets of food. The entire evolution took several hours, but the stores on-load of pallets was conducted in 2 hours with only 18 supply personnel on the flight deck. Once on-loaded, all pallets were transported from the flight deck to their respective storage compartments, and all 83 food service pallets were stowed within 75 minutes of receipt.
Operating multiple stores elevators to stow materials minimizes the time the hangar bay is closed to personnel due to replenishment.
“As our proficiency improves, we expect to be capable of striking down material at the rate of delivery which means after a RAS we can return the hangar back to support air operations sooner,” said Koch.
Chief Culinary Specialist and Food Services Cargo’s Leading Chief Petty Officer Moses Brathwaite, from Saint John, U.S. Virgin Island plans and supervises replenishment operations from the hangar bay, and delivery to storage compartments.
"In my opinion, the stores elevators on Ford double or triple the efficiency of the Nimitz -class package conveyors,” said Brathwaite. “At full capacity, the ability to load up to 12 complete pallets of stores and lower them straight into centralized storerooms to be placed directly into long-term storage is extremely convenient.”
The Chief of Naval Operation’s maritime strategy calls for a future navy with more agile and resilient logistics that provide the capability to employ forces in dispersed, forward environments across the spectrum of conflict. The Ford-class carrier is the future of naval logistics, providing minimal manning and vertical integration of stores elevators over centralized storerooms - a cost benefit that enables carrier operations to be more efficient ultimately improving lethality by keeping carriers in the fight and on station longer.
Ford is a first-in-class aircraft carrier and the first new carrier designed in more than 40 years. For more news from USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), visit www.dvidshub.net/CVN78 or www.facebook.com/USSGeraldRFord or twitter.com/warship_78
| Date Taken: | 05.15.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 05.15.2020 17:43 |
| Story ID: | 370118 |
| Location: | VA, US |
| Web Views: | 468 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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