The First Line of Defense

CA, UNITED STATES

02.16.2024

Story by Petty Officer 3rd Class Victoria Armstrong 

USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72)   

PACIFIC OCEAN — On January 26, 2024, while patrolling the Gulf of Aden, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Carney (DDG 64) defensively shot down a missile 4launched by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels. Various Cryptologic Technician (CT) ratings onboard Carney provided support by collecting and providing information from radar surveillance systems to warfare commanders making decisions about how to combat the missile. The quick response to this interaction showed the importance of CTs and the crucial role they play in ship defense.
Similarly, on the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), CT’s are the ship’s first line of protection.
They provide indications and warnings about any threats near or around the ship by collecting electronic intelligence data from electronic sensors or satellites. CT’s then provide that data to the warfare commanders and the fleet commanders, to create a strategy to keep the ship safe. They perform a wide range of tasks in support of the national intelligence-gathering effort, with an emphasis on cryptology and signal intelligence-related products.
The primary mission of Cryptological Technicians (Technical) (CTT) onboard is anti-ship missile defense.
“There are two ways to defend the ship,” said Cryptologic Technician (Technical) (CTT) 1st Class Vince Amora, the leading petty officer of intelligence division QW. “One way is to shoot it down with our own missile or guns, and the other way is to do it electronically. We as CTTs deploy electronic countermeasures called ‘soft kill’ techniques, which is where we create a distraction to effectively steer the missiles from hitting us.”
Cryptological Technicians (Collection) (CTR) on the other hand, collect, analyze and exploit signals of interest (SOI) throughout the radio frequency (RF) spectrum to identify, locate and report worldwide threats.
“We provide indications, warnings and information about generally anything that’s going on around us to the ship, Tactical Action Officer (TAO) and the strike group overall,” said Cryptologic Technician (Collection) (CTR) 1st Class Audri Quinlan, the leading petty officer of intelligence division QC. “When there are distress signals, such as someone calling mayday or a man overboard, we’re the ones who help find those people.”
Cryptologic Technicians (Maintenance) (CTM) work closely with CTRs. They are the ones who perform maintenance on the CTR’s equipment to keep it operational and mission ready.
“I maintain, configure and install the intelligence and tactical technological equipment,” said Cryptological Technician (Maintenance) (CTM) 2nd Class Laci Eddelman. “I manage the entire system as well as troubleshoot our antennas.”
“Eddelman likes the challenge of trying to figure out how to fix a problem with our system,” said Quinlan. “Without her, if our system goes down or if something is wrong with our antennas or our communication security material, we can’t do our job.”
Aircraft carriers normally have billets for two CTMs, however, on the Abraham Lincoln, Eddelman is the only CTM currently onboard. As the only CTM, whenever Eddelman has questions about troubleshooting, she has to rely on training manuals and personnel that come onboard to do system operational verification tests.
“When we’re having system issues that I don’t know how to fix, I monitor and ask anyone that comes onboard and operates on our system how to fix such problems,” said Eddelman. “I also have a technical representative who comes onboard and teaches me how to troubleshoot.”
The life of a CT can be very stressful, so when times get tough, they often must rely on each other.
“For other rates, you may work with someone at one command and then never see them again, but because we’re such a small community, it’s almost guaranteed we’ll meet again,” said Quinlan. “I’ve made a lot of friends, so I love knowing that I’ll most likely see them again later down the line.”
Amora has a close relationship with his fellow CTs and says just talking with them can help lighten his mood.
“We joke around and we share common interests,” said Amora. “Thanks to that, we’re able to become really close friends. The people I work with are definitely my favorite part of the job.”
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• Date Taken: 02.16.2024
• Date Posted: 02.16.2024 12:34
• Story ID: 464121
• Location: CA, US