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The common phrase ‘out of sight, out of mind’ rings true as Sailors aboard the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) plough through another work day using electricity, steam and potable water, while those who make it all possible hide in the murky workspaces below the surface of everyday life.
Beneath the 2nd deck is a mechanical world where steep ladder wells plunge into dimly lit depths, machinery hums like snoring giants and silent heroes labor to keep the entire ship running.
Down in the pits, where the reactor department works is the carrier’s heartbeat. It throbs with the perpetual motion of dangerous equipment and hardworking Sailors who maintain these highly guarded spaces.
“We move the ship,” said Machinist’s Mate 1st Class Joshua Myers, the reactor propulsion 05 leading petty officer. “We provide propulsion to make sure the ship moves wherever the captain needs it to go, ensure the water is drinkable for the crew and supply the electricity so everyone from combat system on down has the power they need to do their job.”
In a nutshell, Machinist’s Mates (MM) help make it possible for the rest of the ship to carry on with their work, and they serve an integral part of a larger network of technical rates that make up the entire reactor department.
“We can’t take any day off,” said Myers. “We can’t be like ‘oh we don’t need the ship to move today.’ Everyday can be a new adventure where something comes out of the blue.”
Challenges face every workplace, but for MMs and most rates that work in the shadowy abyss that is reactor, the environment itself could pose a challenge.
“You’re around a bunch of equipment that operates mostly on steam and hot water, anything can go wrong at any time, and that’s what you’re scared of, because you never know,” said Machinist’s Mate Fireman Tyrek Hamilton, a propulsion plant technician. “I might be turning a valve or operating a type of equipment and it goes wrong.”
Just walking through a shaft alley is a tense experience. Colorful oil pipes snake through the soot smeared space and the tinny, pressurized hiss of the sea sounds like a submarine cabin. Hot, hectic machinery rotates around the MMs’ calm faces, which contrast sharply with the controlled chaos happening around them. To anyone not familiar with the mechanized land down under, the setting could seem surreal, but to the MMs, this is just another day at work.
“A lot of our systems get really hot, and even though you have vents to cool you off, you’re still in a hot, confined space with a lot of people,” said Hamilton. “You’re learning something new every day while getting your hands dirty.”
Life below the 2nd deck is a secluded, insulated environment at times, which can limit the amount of sunshine and ordinary interactions that most of the crew usually get.
“We’re either studying, sleeping, working or eating,” said Machinist’s Mate Fireman Chris Desousa, a propulsion plant technician. “There’s really nothing else in between. We’re either constantly in the plant or constantly in the classroom. When we’re down in the space, we don’t hear things like the TAO [tactical action officer] and the bells going on for every half hour. Sometimes I don’t even hear the executive officer in the morning because we’re so secluded down there. Our engineering brains just go off and all we’re thinking about is valves and water.”
With every challenge comes a blessing in disguise, though, and despite the MMs busy, lifestyle there is a collective zeal for learning and a pride among them, entrenched in the struggle to help keep the ship alive and running, no matter what.
“Reactor and engineering is like a big family with different parents,” said Machinist’s Mate Lauren Cuevas, a propulsion plant technician. “We’re all down in there in different rates, doing our job, working on different systems, but we all have the same goal, to power the ship and answer the bell.”
Nothing brings the team together like challenges, and by the many reactor casualty drills the department goes through, it’s no surprise that they are well prepared to face sudden complications.
“The comradery of the department is great when there’s a major issue and we come together,” said Myers. “You have chiefs and senior chiefs that come down with the lowest man to make sure everybody’s safe. My goal is to ensure my guys get to do their job in a safe environment so that they can enjoy being home after deployment. We’re there to do our job so that everyone else can do their job and succeed.”
Success is often overlooked when you work under the heels of a world above, a well documented world of bright sea horizons, Morale, Recreation, and Welfare events, raging aircraft and picture worthy scenes, but MMs, are not always forgotten - neither are the other rates that branch from the reactor and engineering side of the ship like so many branches of a tree. Sometimes familiarity can glaze over phenomenon and incredible settings can apprear dull over time due to stress and fatigue, but there will always be a moment to reflect over just how unique the Machinist’s Mate experience is.
“If you were to tell me when I was a sophomore in high school that I would be doing maintenance on an aircraft carrier in the middle of the Ionian Sea, I wouldn’t believe you,” said Desousa. “If you told me I’d be a part of a pretty large team that powered us all the way from Norfolk to Greece, I wouldn’t believe you. I guess there’s a sense of pride you develop when you see the bigger picture.”
The bigger picture of MM life is a lot broader and more intricate than can ever be described to the public for operational security reasons, but an old poem by an unkown author titled ‘The Snipe’s Lament’, might convey the true essence of the overlooked and unsung rate. The poem refers to the old navy that used boilers to generate power, but it could also apply to the more modern engineering and reactor driven Navy, as well. MM1 Myers credits this poem to why he fell in love with the duties and struggles of his rate.
There’s a place within each ship that legends fail to teach, Within each shell, deep down in Hell, where legends cannot reach. It’s far below the water-line and takes a living toll, the red -hot metal living hell where Sailors call the “Hole.”
| Date Taken: | 07.27.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 12.30.2022 17:27 |
| Story ID: | 436137 |
| Location: | NORFOLK, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 37 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, The Land Down Under, by PO2 Charles Blaine, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
