Toowoomba Sailor Experiences US Aircraft Carrier Life First Hand
16 November 2009 By ABET Samantha Whitfield
It is not every day that an RAN sailor gets the opportunity to cross-deck to a USN aircraft carrier. But that is exactly what happened to me during HMAS Toowoomba's[1] tasking in CTF 50.
I was one of the lucky ones chosen to cross-deck to the nuclear powered carrier USS Nimitz. Flown over by our own Seahawk Pegasus together with five other Ship's Company, I spent the day being shown around the impressive ship.
My guide was Operations Specialist E7 Maritza Chavez who is the equivalent to our Leading Seaman(LS). We seemed to get along well right from the start and I enjoyed hearing her talk about the ship. Her tour included places such as the hanger, flight deck, forecastle and the bridge.
I learnt about the different coloured jersey's worn by the sailors who work on the flight deck and how the aircraft are lowered from the flight deck to the hangar for maintenance. Maintenance is conducted twenty-four hours a day!
We also toured the various gyms. The ship had a dedicated treadmill room complete with 30 treadmills and 15 spin bikes. Toowoomba has just one treadmill and two bikes so you could imagine my facial expression when I walked into this gym. Up another flight of stairs however, there was a compartment the size of a Fitness First gym full of weights.
In the foc's'le I saw the largest capstan and cables I have ever seen. Apparently it is referred to by the Ship's Company as the 'animal farm' due to names of equipment such as the 'pelican hook' and the 'bulls eye'.
My visit to the bridge led me to take the helm and steer the ship. What a thrill to claim that I have steered an aircraft carrier.
One of the many highlights was having the opportunity to meet the Commander of the Strike Group Rear Admiral Miller, USN. I found myself trembling when I shook his hand and exchanged our ship's coin.
Of course one of the most impressive aspects to the USS Nimitz is the number of aircraft on board. We spent time on 'Vultures Row' adjacent to the air tower to see the jets take off – it was a great view of the whole operation.
With the engines winding up, the roar of the engines were so loud we had both ear plugs and ear muffs on. Following all the noise came the vibration through your body and the entire ship. In just seconds the jet took off and left us with the smell of burnt rubber and rising steam from the catapult on the deck.
Accommodation on Nimitz was quite different to Toowoomba. Maritza lived in a berthing area with 80 girls that were all from her department. They share three showers. She said that there was never a long queue because they all have different watches - however they do argue about the line up for the sinks.
Their rack size is a lot smaller to ours; although wider, the height from one to another is much smaller than ours. They also have coffin lockers where their belongings are stored under their rack.
There were a number of rumours about the aircraft carriers I was keen to dispel with Maritza. She informed me that there was no McDonald's restaurant, no bowling alley, no swimming pool, no one person to change all the light bulbs and despite a Company of close to 4800, there is no one person to fill the goffa machines.
However, they do have a church and USS Ronald Reagan has a Starbucks. Occasionally they have people who sell souvenirs from various places. They get SWIMEX's just like us but the girls cannot wear their hair in plaits or ponytails and they never relax the shaving rule for the boys.
After lunch in their giant sailor's mess, I had a quick tour and explanation of the brig on board and visited the convenience store for souvenirs. Maritza and I exchanged hats, coffee mugs and of course our emails.
It was likely that the next chance I would have to see Maritza would be if the ship came to Australia. But fate had a different plan for us. Two days later, Maritza came to visit me on Toowoomba as part of the personnel exchange programme. Maritza arrived shortly after our RAS with Nimitz and I happily showed her how we live onboard an Anzac Class Frigate.
Where I had exclaimed "Wow it's so big" when on board Nimitz, her comments were quite the opposite - especially when we visited our weights and cardio room. Maritza said she felt a warm feeling about the ship and liked how everybody knew one another.
After four hours we had toured the entire ship and so we ended the day with a game of scrabble. It was sad to see her go as we had developed a strong friendship within the two days. I wished her a safe flight back and watched the helo take off.
This was one of the most amazing opportunities of my Navy career to date. Hopefully fate will once again step in and I will get to see Maritza in Perth next year.
- ↑ HMAS Toowoomba has just completed a tour of duty as the Major Fleet Unit deployed in support of Operation SLIPPER in the Middle East Area of Operations. During her deployment, HMAS Toowoomba has provided direct maritime support to the International Coalition against Terrorism and the international coalition conducting counter piracy operations off the Horn of Africa.
