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The forecastle is the most forward part of a ship below the main deck, traditionally used as the crew’s living quarters. Today we use it to contain essential machinery such as the anchor windlass. Recently, the boatswain’s mates treated the forecastle aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) to an entire makeover by restoring it to its former glory with some personal additions.
“We resprayed and repainted the entire space over again,” said Boatswain’s Mate 3rd Class Thomas Mars, the deck supervisor assigned to deck department aboard George Washington.
When the space was repainted, the deck department’s departing leadership really wanted the junior Sailors to make their mark on the forecastle as a way of passing the mantle.
“A personal motto of mine is to leave the Navy in a better place, and it starts with you,” said Mars. “I remember when I first got to the ship, as the Sailors above me were getting ready to leave, I had to emulate their leadership and the way they would take ownership of spaces.”
The junior boatswain’s mates got together and voted on what new additions they wanted to add to the forecastle. They put their rank symbol on all the bits, and painted “Don’t Tread on Me” on the crane in old English Lettering.
“We got to add our own flavor to the space,” said Boatswain’s Mate Seaman Apprentice Joshua Cooper, assigned to the deck department aboard the ship. “It really made it feel a lot more like home.”
An important part of repainting the forecastle was to also refurbish the murals already established by prior boatswain’s mates, while at the same time adding their own artwork.
“Most of the artworks were already painted before I arrived to the shipyard,” said Cooper. “We wanted to bring Sailors’ hard work into the future of the forecastle by repainting the artwork, rather than covering it with something different.”
For some of the deck team Sailors who have seen the forecastle in all stages of restoration, and now walk on the new refurbished deck, a deep feeling of pride follows them. The entire restoration of the forecastle took the deck department nearly two months, and all the hard work led up to the Change of Command ceremony on June 25th.
“It takes a team,” said Mars. “It took the entire department on our hands and knees to get this place to look like it does now. When I look at this space and walk through it, I feel pride; deck pride, and ship pride. The Change of Command ceremony makes us feel proud that the previous commanding officer would host it in our space to show the current commanding officer what we’re made of.”
Finishing the forecastle is a milestone that deck team can now check off their list.
“The ultimate goal is to get all our spaces up to par,” said Mars. “The forecastle is just a great starting point.”
Deck team not only took back their space, but also restored the murals that had ship history. They added their own personal touch to their space and displayed their hard work at the Change of Command ceremony. This will last long after the ship has finished its sea service.
| Date Taken: | 07.12.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 03.08.2022 06:20 |
| Story ID: | 415958 |
| Location: | NEWPORT NEWS, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 56 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Restoring the Murals that made the Forecastle, by PO2 jacob van amburg, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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