I feel like the posts are starting to become repetive in their content and nature. I'll try to spice it up, but I make no gurantees for the fans.
We have been very busy here on board the Matthew Perry, I'd say its the busiest time period we've had since I've been with the crew. Since the last post, we left Sasebo headed South-South West to an area near Okinawa and pulled up next to a couple of small helo/aircraft carriers carrying air support for the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU). We gave them fuel, mail, food, toilet paper, engine parts, etc, etc. The Captain we have on board prefers to do ConReps via Vert Reps (meaning we connect the ships via wire and send supplies over the wire instead of using helicopters). We do this because it's quicker and more effecient than using helicopters and is also excellent training.
So we spent 2 days shuttling supplies to the Marines and a couple of Navy destroyers. After that we ran back into Sasebo for a couple of days to get more cargo and then headed back out, again on a South by Southwesterly course.
We met up with another destroyer the other day (I loose track of dates and days out here) and once again connected the wires and sent them fuel and palletized cargo. The only difference with this one versus the others we've been doing is what I did. I showed up a little groggy from my post-lunch nap expecting to take my usual place manning the throttles and supervising the helmsman. The Captain had other plans..he said "Mate, your driving today". After a few seconds of making sure my ears weren't playing tricks I was like...ummm okay, hope this works.
So I took control of the ship and pulled up 100 feet off the side of this destroyer. From there I directed the cargo teams to hook up the wires and send across the fuel hoses. We ran along side them for a couple of hours...every minute of which I was saying a silent prayer that I don't pull the wrong move and sink both ships. I think such a move would slightly blemish my career.
After the transfer was over, I initiated an emergency break away drill and we were on our way with out a hitch. The Capt. said I had a pretty good grasp on ship handling, so that wasn't too bad. It wasn't too much of a surprise, I know I'm pretty damn good at this job.
Other than the unreps, the transits were pretty typical. Lots of squid fishing boats and heavy shipping traffic. There were some areas where we'ld be chug a luggin along just fine and then the radar would just blow up with traffic...I think I saw smoke coming from it once or twice. At times the boats were so thick I thought we were seeing some uncharted land up ahead of us. But before I could pick a name out for these new found mystery islands to name after the great Mike, the mass became little dots. I'd drop the radar scale down (basically ignoring the stuff 6-12 miles out and focus on conquering the 3-6 mile stuff) and pick a hole and go through. We never had any close calls but did have boats and a few ships coming within a 1/4 mile at times (we normally like maneuver so fishing boats stay at 1 mile and ships at 2 miles).
So we leave tomorrow after our 24 hour stay in Okinawa. We head to Guam. I'm excited for 4 traffic-less days of blue skies and a warm sun to navigate in. Though its just the calm before the storm. After that we head to the Philippines, where they not only have traffic like Japan, but I hear the fishing boats there are just straight lunatics at some of the stunts they pull. But I've got a slight curiosity and interest to want to getting to deal with it first hand.
So thats about all I got for now. When I'm not on watch, I'm usually working out, reading, or falling asleep on a movie I'll never finish. It's pretty routine life.
Til next time,
Friday, March 30, 2012
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Running Supplies! Decision Time!
Since the last posting ,we have left Sasebo and come back.
We steamed South for two days to meet up with a couple of Navy ships carrying Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. A couple were like mini aircraft carriers that carried 2 squads of Marine fighter planes, and 2-3 squads of Marine helicopters. We pulled up about 200 yards off the side of the ship (USS Essex and Tortuga) and they launched a helicopter. The helicopter would fly over and over about 10 feet above our flight deck where a crew member would hook a cargo net containing a several pallets of supplies to the helicopter. Then the helicopter would fly back to the ship, drop off the pallets and fly back to repeat. It took about 2 hours a ship and was very cool to watch.
Another thing we did was training with the Marines and Marine Special Forces in the MEU. When the supply transfer was done, we became a hostile enemy ship. The Marines had Harriers flying low and buzzing over our decks, and helicopters carrying them were launched. The choppers came and hovered over our deck while Marines fast-roped down onto it and quickly assaulted and took control of the ship. Meanwhile, there were helicopters hovering off of our port and starboard side with Marine snipers aiming at anything moving on deck. It was all training...no actual or simulation ammo was fired.
It was all right out of a Marine recruiting video, and truly awesome to watch. Its amazing how professional and lighting fast those guys move and take control. Almost made me go and sign up for the Marines and get in on the fun.......almost.
That lasted 3 days. The Marine did a practice run the first day taking us over and then launched a for real run on us the second day.
After we were done with the MEU, we headed up North to meet up with a couple of more Navy boats. Here we pulled up right in between 2 of them. They were each about 150 feet off of our Port and Starboard sides. I believed they were destroyers of some time. We shot lines across to their deck and sent across fuel hoses and topped them off with fuel. We ran like that connected for a few hours. When that was done, they peeled off and we all went our own ways. It was another fun exercise and a good lesson on close quarter maneuvering.
So now we are back in Sasebo. We will be here for a few days before taking off to another Port in Japan, then Guam, and then I'm not sure what happens after that.
The day before we left last time, a company I had submitted my resume to called me and offered me a job. The company is called Harvey Gulf Marine. They run Offshore Supply Vessels (OSVs) in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska. I would be sent to work on one of their brand new OSV's in Alaska under a contract for Shell that goes until October. After that, I would be moved to an OSV in the Gulf of Mexico. I have a conference call here in a couple of days with the office to go over more details of the offer.
I could go on and on about the running list of pros and cons I have going. I love this current job, its been a blast but it would be way to long and boring. It boils down to I can't see myself styaing here and making a career....there would be no way to have a real personal life. Plus the money would be slightly better with a way better work schedule of 28 days on, 14 days off. From hearing from friends that are working for Harvey and similar companies, the job would be as equally rewarding and as fun as it is here.
As the offer stand right now, I believe I will take the job. I would probably be getting off here around May 10th in the Philippines and starting in June. In my gut it feels like the right decision, and I'm not sure if an opportunity like this will come along again. It will enable me to pick up some certifications that will really make me a prime candidate for companies that operate larger ships on a more global scale in the same industry.
We steamed South for two days to meet up with a couple of Navy ships carrying Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. A couple were like mini aircraft carriers that carried 2 squads of Marine fighter planes, and 2-3 squads of Marine helicopters. We pulled up about 200 yards off the side of the ship (USS Essex and Tortuga) and they launched a helicopter. The helicopter would fly over and over about 10 feet above our flight deck where a crew member would hook a cargo net containing a several pallets of supplies to the helicopter. Then the helicopter would fly back to the ship, drop off the pallets and fly back to repeat. It took about 2 hours a ship and was very cool to watch.
Another thing we did was training with the Marines and Marine Special Forces in the MEU. When the supply transfer was done, we became a hostile enemy ship. The Marines had Harriers flying low and buzzing over our decks, and helicopters carrying them were launched. The choppers came and hovered over our deck while Marines fast-roped down onto it and quickly assaulted and took control of the ship. Meanwhile, there were helicopters hovering off of our port and starboard side with Marine snipers aiming at anything moving on deck. It was all training...no actual or simulation ammo was fired.
It was all right out of a Marine recruiting video, and truly awesome to watch. Its amazing how professional and lighting fast those guys move and take control. Almost made me go and sign up for the Marines and get in on the fun.......almost.
That lasted 3 days. The Marine did a practice run the first day taking us over and then launched a for real run on us the second day.
After we were done with the MEU, we headed up North to meet up with a couple of more Navy boats. Here we pulled up right in between 2 of them. They were each about 150 feet off of our Port and Starboard sides. I believed they were destroyers of some time. We shot lines across to their deck and sent across fuel hoses and topped them off with fuel. We ran like that connected for a few hours. When that was done, they peeled off and we all went our own ways. It was another fun exercise and a good lesson on close quarter maneuvering.
So now we are back in Sasebo. We will be here for a few days before taking off to another Port in Japan, then Guam, and then I'm not sure what happens after that.
The day before we left last time, a company I had submitted my resume to called me and offered me a job. The company is called Harvey Gulf Marine. They run Offshore Supply Vessels (OSVs) in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska. I would be sent to work on one of their brand new OSV's in Alaska under a contract for Shell that goes until October. After that, I would be moved to an OSV in the Gulf of Mexico. I have a conference call here in a couple of days with the office to go over more details of the offer.
I could go on and on about the running list of pros and cons I have going. I love this current job, its been a blast but it would be way to long and boring. It boils down to I can't see myself styaing here and making a career....there would be no way to have a real personal life. Plus the money would be slightly better with a way better work schedule of 28 days on, 14 days off. From hearing from friends that are working for Harvey and similar companies, the job would be as equally rewarding and as fun as it is here.
As the offer stand right now, I believe I will take the job. I would probably be getting off here around May 10th in the Philippines and starting in June. In my gut it feels like the right decision, and I'm not sure if an opportunity like this will come along again. It will enable me to pick up some certifications that will really make me a prime candidate for companies that operate larger ships on a more global scale in the same industry.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Stretching the Sea Legs
Many plans have been made, thrown away, and made again...and then changed many more times since my last posting.
We pulled into Guam to load some pretty top secret and expensive cargo quickly. We pulled into Guam in the afternoon and were throwing off the mooring lines at 8 am sharp the next morning and made a course for Yokosuka, Japan with hopes of actually making it there before the Navy changed their minds once more.
The first couple days of the trip were filled with the standard glorious South Pacific weather which I made the most of basking out on deck reading books in my off time. Then we hit the Phillipine Sea where the waters turned from pristine blue to the more depressing grey of the seas that surround Japan and the rest of this region.
We hit some pretty lively weather, with winds reaching 65 knots in force (75 knots is a weak Cat 1 hurricane winds for perspective). The seas kicked up to about 20 feet on the bow and the ship was rolling and pitching nicely accordingly. On one of my night watches we were getting it pretty good, with the engines making speed for 15 kts and we were lucky to be making 8. The bow would rise up above a wave and then launch into the trough of the next, causing a deluge of water to come shooting over the decks and up to bridge windows. The whole house would shake violently until the bow would dig out of the water and start making her way up the wave. The whole thing was really quite impressive.
We finally got inland to Japan where we were somewhat better sheltered and we pulled into Yokosuka with calm weather and the front that caused the ruckus well to our East. We started cargo operations quickly and were pulling up the anchor the following morning for Sasebo. This time, we could take our time getting to Sasebo, and we made for about 10 kts of average speed.
It seemed like every time I came onto watch, a signal went out to all surrounding vessels to come and mess with the Perry. I was constantly battling traffic every watch. At one point we cut through a fishing fleet that must have consisted of a few hundred boats; it looked like land was ahead of us at times on the radar. It was a pretty good experience to have,though with a price of a hefty headache after each watch.
We pulled into Sasebo the other day. I don't know too much about our future schedule. We will be getting a new Capt here in a few days and then we are going to be running with a battle group of several ships while they conduct target practice somewhere of Japan. We will fuel them and give them ammo while they conduct operations. I think thats supposed to last most of March with us ducking into Sasebo every now and then for overnights.
Sometime in April we will be back in Guam, and then sometime in May we might be dumping our ammo and taking up food stores and supplies and doing runs to the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. But all that is wildly scheduled to change. For now I'm enjoying this brief rest in Sasebo.
We pulled into Guam to load some pretty top secret and expensive cargo quickly. We pulled into Guam in the afternoon and were throwing off the mooring lines at 8 am sharp the next morning and made a course for Yokosuka, Japan with hopes of actually making it there before the Navy changed their minds once more.
The first couple days of the trip were filled with the standard glorious South Pacific weather which I made the most of basking out on deck reading books in my off time. Then we hit the Phillipine Sea where the waters turned from pristine blue to the more depressing grey of the seas that surround Japan and the rest of this region.
We hit some pretty lively weather, with winds reaching 65 knots in force (75 knots is a weak Cat 1 hurricane winds for perspective). The seas kicked up to about 20 feet on the bow and the ship was rolling and pitching nicely accordingly. On one of my night watches we were getting it pretty good, with the engines making speed for 15 kts and we were lucky to be making 8. The bow would rise up above a wave and then launch into the trough of the next, causing a deluge of water to come shooting over the decks and up to bridge windows. The whole house would shake violently until the bow would dig out of the water and start making her way up the wave. The whole thing was really quite impressive.
We finally got inland to Japan where we were somewhat better sheltered and we pulled into Yokosuka with calm weather and the front that caused the ruckus well to our East. We started cargo operations quickly and were pulling up the anchor the following morning for Sasebo. This time, we could take our time getting to Sasebo, and we made for about 10 kts of average speed.
It seemed like every time I came onto watch, a signal went out to all surrounding vessels to come and mess with the Perry. I was constantly battling traffic every watch. At one point we cut through a fishing fleet that must have consisted of a few hundred boats; it looked like land was ahead of us at times on the radar. It was a pretty good experience to have,though with a price of a hefty headache after each watch.
We pulled into Sasebo the other day. I don't know too much about our future schedule. We will be getting a new Capt here in a few days and then we are going to be running with a battle group of several ships while they conduct target practice somewhere of Japan. We will fuel them and give them ammo while they conduct operations. I think thats supposed to last most of March with us ducking into Sasebo every now and then for overnights.
Sometime in April we will be back in Guam, and then sometime in May we might be dumping our ammo and taking up food stores and supplies and doing runs to the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. But all that is wildly scheduled to change. For now I'm enjoying this brief rest in Sasebo.
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