Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Dyxan Williams | 220317-N-NA545-1257 NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (March 17, 2022) – Senior Chief Aviation...... read more read more
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NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (March 17, 2022) - Sailors aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) participated in a simulated “at sea” training exercise March 15-17 while pierside at Newport News Shipbuilding.
During the exercise, referred to as Shamrock Shakedown by George Washington Sailors, the crew conducted a series of seamanship, damage control and medical response training evolutions designed to reacclimatize Sailors to an underway mindset and gauge overall operational readiness in preparation for crew certifications (CREWCERT).
CREWCERT is a mandatory assessment of the crew’s ability to respond to emergencies and is composed of critical milestone events marking the ship’s transition from the maintenance phase into basic phase underway operations. It is broken into three phases designed to review, evaluate and eventually certify crew programs and operations.
“We worked with subject matter experts of all ranks aboard the ship to determine training priorities and what [skillsets] we needed to improve on based on our last [simulated at-sea training exercise],” said Lt. Cmdr. Veronica Y. Baker, from San Salvador, El Salvador, the ship’s training officer. “The goal is to get all the training teams working together simultaneously as various drill scenarios are executed at the same time.”
The Shamrock Shakedown training exercise began with a sea-and-anchor detail, which is an evolution designed to mimic the ship getting underway from the pier. Day one of training also featured an array of drills, including loss of steering, man overboard, and aircraft crash and fire. Over the course of three days, George Washington’s integrated training teams conducted various general quarters scenarios that allowed for ship-wide damage control and casualty response training.
“It’s time to change to an operational mindset,” said Cmdr. James P. Hunt, from Point Clear, Alabama, the ship’s strike officer. “Our aim is to increase our material and personnel readiness. When George Washington comes out of the yards, we need to be ready to fight on day one.”
To conclude the three-day training exercise, Sailors conducted active shooter, medical response and geopolitical drill scenarios. The various simulations provided Sailors with more hands-on experience to familiarize themselves with their underway responsibilities, take ownership of their spaces and equipment, and continue to increase shipboard knowledge and damage control effectiveness.
“I’m ready to finally work in my rate,” said Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Fuels) 2nd Class (AW) Shane E. Tullis, from Ranburne, Alabama, assigned to air department. “I’m really looking forward to it; it’ll be a great environment to pass on my experience and help train up our junior Sailors.”
Following the successful completion of CREWCERT I in April, the ship will continue to conduct training evolutions to prepare for CREWCERT II, currently scheduled for July, and CREWCERT III, tentatively scheduled for the fall.
George Washington is currently conducting RCOH at Newport News Shipyard. RCOH is a multi-year project performed only once during a carrier’s 50-year service life that includes refueling the ship’s two nuclear reactors, as well as significant repairs, upgrades, and modernization.
| Date Taken: | 03.17.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 03.17.2022 21:11 |
| Story ID: | 416668 |
| Location: | NEWPORT NEWS, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 215 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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