Sweet Home, Ore. native serves aboard USS Halsey

AT SEA

09.14.2020

Courtesy Story

Commander, Task Force 71/Destroyer Squadron 15

EAST CHINA SEA— A Sweet Home, Ore. native and 2019 Sweet Home High School graduate is serving in the U.S. Navy aboard the guided-missile destroyer, USS Halsey.

Fireman Hayden McDonald is a Damage Controlman serving aboard USS Halsey, homeported out of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Halsey is underway in 7th Fleet conducting operations in the Indo-Pacific while assigned to the forward deployed Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 15.

Damage Controlmen make up a part of the ship’s Repair Division that maintain damage control equipment from bow to stern. They perform hundreds of maintenance checks each week to ensure Halsey is ready to combat any casualty.

“Having the opportunity to help or save people motivates me to do my job right,” said McDonald. “Maintaining life-saving equipment onboard and training personnel on how to combat fires or flooding is rewarding to me.”

Damage Controlmen maintain a constant state of readiness in both damage control training as well as maintaining critical equipment throughout the entire ship. Keeping the ship in a constant state of mission-readiness to defend against casualties is paramount.

“I take pride in being the Sailor who protects the ship from fires and flooding,” said McDonald. “Keeping the ship mission-ready keeps us in the fight.”

A U.S. Navy destroyer is a multi-mission ship that can operate independently or as part of a larger group of ships at sea. The ship is equipped with a vertical launching system, tomahawk missiles, torpedoes, guns and Phalanx close-in weapons systems.

Halsey is underway conducting operations in support of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific while assigned to Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 15, the Navy’s largest forward-deployed DESRON and the U.S. 7th Fleet’s principal surface force..

For more information on Halsey, visit https://www.facebook.com/DESRON15.

• Date Taken: 09.14.2020
• Date Posted: 09.30.2020 07:59
• Story ID: 379788
• Location: AT SEA
• Hometown: SWEET HOME, OR, US