Photo By Matt Mogle | 220215-N-JU575-1601 GREAT LAKES, Ill. (Feb. 15, 2022) Guest speaker retired Hull...... read more read more
Staff and students gathered at Surface Warfare Engineering School Command (SWESC) Great Lakes’ Hull Maintenance Technician (HT) "A" School to honor the Navy rating that was established in 1972, although the work they do has existed since the first ship.
“The significance of today is to not only celebrate the last 50 years of pride that has stemmed from the Hull Maintenance Technician rating, but to pay tribute to the heroics of past and present HTs,” said Instructor at SWESC’s HT “A” School Hull Maintenance Technician 1st Class Nicolo P. Vivona. “The job of an HT is not an easy task and the rate can be very unforgiving and challenging at times, but can be very rewarding. It’s important to recognize and appreciate all of the hard work and devotion poured into the HT community over the last 50 years so that sense of pride and ownership may continue for 50 more years.”
The HT rate was originally known as the Shipfitter rating dating back to 1921, it transitioned to Metalsmith and Pipefitter ratings in 1948, then later to become re-established as Shipfitter in 1958 where both Metalsmith and Pipefitter ratings were merged. Eventually the rating became recognized in 1972 as Hull Maintenance Technician.
“Even though we are celebrating 50 years of the HT rating, the skills and traits that make an HT have been around much longer than that,” said SWESC Great Lakes Commanding Officer Cmdr. Shawn Gibson.
Guest speaker retired Hull Maintenance Technician 1st Class Frank Yontz talk about his time as an HT and what it meant to him.
“Being an HT means just about everything to me,” said Yontz. “It has allowed me to buy houses, put food on my table and pay my bills. The skills you learn today will allow you to excel in life regardless if you stay and retire or you decide to become a civilian.”
From 1972 to 1988 HTs assumed all the duties and responsibilities of the damage control (DC) rating. Although the names merged into just HT, the responsibilities to the Navy did not diminish. HTs had to go to their primary “A” School in Philadelphia to learn the HT side, and then onto Treasure Island, San Francisco to learn the DC, nuclear, chemical, biological, and radiological defense, then onto San Diego to learn welding, brazing and sheet metal work. In 1988 the Navy realized that damage control was such a large responsibility, they needed a rating specifically tasked with its duties, hence the reemergence of the DC rating in 1988.
Training sites for HTs from Pennsylvania and California merged and were welcomed to their current home at Naval Station Great Lakes in 1995. HTs are responsible for the metal work necessary to keep shipboard structures and surfaces in working order. These duties range from plumbing, small boat repair work, operating and maintaining ballast control systems and managing the quality assurance program -- also known as Non-Destructive Testing.
Vivona finished with quoting what came to be known as the HT creed. “We the willing, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much with so little, for so long, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing.”
| Date Taken: | 02.15.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 02.17.2022 13:50 |
| Story ID: | 414862 |
| Location: | GREAT LAKES, IL, US |
| Web Views: | 685 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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