Just Runin Around

It's been a while since the last update, but not too much has happened.  We made it Sasebo and hung out in the harbor at anchor for a couple of days. We moved a little bit of ammo ashore, but nothing significant. I was able to go ashore in Sasebo for the first time, but there really isn't anything significant there. I wound up just going for a couple of long runs through town and eating at the CPO club on base.

We left Sasebo and went North to Yokosuka and tossed out the anchor over there. We gave the Navy base there fresh missiles and what not while we got old stuff from them to make its way back to the states. We wound up having to leave early due to a major front coming through that was going to be putting up 40 knot winds, which would have most likely caused us to drag anchor. So we pulled up the hook and made a night departure for Okinawa.

It took 2.5 days to get to Okinawa, one of Japan's southern-most islands. The base here is GIGANTIC. Its not really one base, but a conglomerate of separte Airforc, Army,  Navy, and Marine Corps bases. Its a relatively tiny island and the bases take up quite a bit of real estate. I can see why the local yokals want them out. We were here to deliver a bunch of ordnance to the Marines stationed here. It was 2 full days of cargo ops. We also picked some of their old/used stuff that will make it back to the states for refurbishing or proper discarding. I didn't have too much to do with ammo ops.

We have a bus that runs us to the Airforce base about 20 mins away. I hopped on it for a ride over for lunch and to do some shopping and what not in the exchange. I have to say, of all the military personnel at the bases I've been going to, the Airforce seems to have the win when it comes the attractive ladies. I was pleasantly surprised, and used to opportunity to do some socializing over lunch. I plopped down across from an AF Capt named Ashley who was sitting alone eating and struck up a conversation.

What I was just figuring as an awkward lunch conversation turned into a pretty lengthy one and we wound up walking around base chatting it up for the next few hours. I have yet to meet a stranger anywhere I've been going! Anyways, she gave me her number to give her a call to go out sometime the nextime we pull into Okinawa. So that was day 1 off the ship.

Day two was a take it easy day for me. I've been on the midnight to 8am watches here so I have all day off. It consisted sleeping til lunch, then sleeping a little more after lunch.  After the post lunch slumber, I decided I had to take advantage of the gorgeous weather here. It's been in the mid to upper 60's and pretty sunny. I laced up the Nikes and went for a 3 hr run out into town just to see the sites. I got back in time for a quick shower and dinner, after which I fell asleep watching a movie and didn't wake up till 11:30 for watch. Boy it felt good!

So we leave Okinawa tomorrow, I partly wish we could spend a few more days here. But we are Guam bound next, and everyone on board is looking forward to that! We are dropping off all of our old and used ordnance that we've been picking up. That'll take about 3 days, then we pull out and another ammo ship comes in picks the old stuff off and drops of fresh stuff, and we go back into port and pick up the fresh stuff.

I don't know how long all that will take, all I know is that its quite a bit of cargo being moved, so it might be a while. After Guam I have no idea where we go. It'll be somewhere in the Japan/Korea area, but our schedule of specific ports changes about 5 times a day. The office just can't be happy with one schedule. Its driving the Capt. nuts.

Speaking of the Capt. In Sasebo we got a new one. The old Capts time was up so he rotated back home and this one came on. He's from the older generation of Capts here, and I think this is his last trip before he retires. He seems pretty good. Straightforward and easy going, I don't think I'll have a problem with him. I've gotten lucky with 2 good Capts, there are a good number of ones that are much much more difficult to get along with.

Thats about all I got for now. Til next time,

Goodbye Korea, Hello Japan!

Our time in Chinhae, Korea has come to an end, and most of the crew seems relieved. I think we are all getting antsy to get on the move again. Most of that was due to the lack of activities to do in port, it quickly led to restlesness.

We conducted sea trials a few days ago. It consisted of going out of the harbor and running on a course for a couple hours at varrying engine RPMs to break in the repaird engine. After that we ran back to Chinhae. However, the engineers decided to wait to do the test where we run the engine at 95% power until we were in the harbor. Needless to say, the Capt wasn't too happy when the Chief Eng. called up and requested that we do some turns and keep going on full power. I'm sure it made some others around us a little nervous when the saw us doing tight circles at 20 kts through a crowded anchorage.

We made it through the sea trials unscathed and the engine still in tact. After that we offloaded a whole bunch of ammo for the base here in Korea and picked up a few hundred tons of old or expended ammunitions. We'll offload the old and empty ammo in Guam to another ship that takes it stateside to be taken care of there. I volunteered to get down on deck and help out the 2 cargo mates (cargo mates have license like I do, but instead of navigating,they work cargo) so I could learn the ammo end of this ship. I didn't get any overtime, but I got some sign offs and certs that will look good for promotion to 2nd mate.

So we are on our way to Sasebo, just a quick overnight trip. We''ll be there for a little while and then off to runs on a few bases in Japan and then Guam. Thats as specific as I can be without giving away sensitive information about the ship.Hopefully while in Sasebo I'll meet up with a couple guys I went to college with who are Ensigns in the Navy on a ship stationed there.

Meanwhile, I've been hearing from friends that the Gulf work is having another hiring season and I've looked into a few companies. If I can make the same pay and comparable benefits here, and have a month on/month on schedule, or even a 3 mo on/ 3 mo off schedule there's not much keeping me here. But I'm just seeing if the fish are biting right now.

I've put in for a ship to ship transfer in April. I'm hoping to get one of the duty oiliers that stay in San Deigo or Hawaii. These ships stay there and once a week or so go out and fill up Navy ship with fuel. I'd do another 4 months on there, getting off in August, which was when I was thinking about getting off here (the Matthew Perry). There are a few benefits of getting to transfer. I'll be on a different class of ship and will get my Tankerman PIC (person-in charge, I run the show loading/discharging cargo), which will make me highly marketable for 2nd Mate/Cargo Mate promotion at MSC and also marketable outside of MSC. If the transfer doesn't go through and I can't get a stateside ship, I'll probably just stay here til August.  Oh, and being stateside, I'll make about twice as much dough as I am here. If you are in a US port and work between 5pm and 7am you get paid your overtime rate, something I only get when I work outside of watch here.

It seems like a long time, but time really flys by here. And when I get off, I'll be able to take around 3 months vacation (although only have of it will be paid). And, I'll only be a couple months short of upgrading to 2nd Mates, which I'll have no troubles getting on the following hitch.

Thats about all I got for now. Time to get back to it and do some work!

Chllin' In Chinhae

Wow, I didn't realize so much time has passed since I last updated. Thankfully, things haven't been too crazy so it shouldn't be hard to bring the world up to speed.

We are still docked in Chinhae. We have been having contractors come on board every day to fix the engine thats down. Along with the engineers keeping busy, there have been some contractors coming up to the bridge to test and inspect all of our GMDSS equipment. GMDSS is the system we use to send a recieve emergency calls to and from anywhere on the globe. However, we only have it set to the a particular grid area that we are operating in. Along with those inspectors we have had the Coast Guard here inspecting all the firefighting and lifesaving gear.

I still stand 8 straight hours of watch, and we still switch which watch we have every three days. I spend my time surfing the internet and looking at Camaros and reading. I've got my eyes on a particular 1969 beauty of a Camaro in Florida, hoping its still for sale when I get off in July. Though everything says don't blow that money on a car....I really really really want that car! Such a tough choice. I bounce between getting it and not about a hundred times a day. I'll probably get it.

We are set to do sea trials on the repaired engine on the 25th. This involves leaving at about 8am and going out on the ocean and running the engine at high RPM's, testing it astern, manuevering, etc. Basically braking it in and seeing if it holds together. We'll come back to the dock at around 4pm.

Then on the 30th we are scheduled to go back to Sasebo if the sea trials are successful. From there we have runs to Yokosuka, Okinawa, and a few other places in the works. I'm ready to leave, I've had enough of Chinhae and I'm hardly making any over time just sitting here. And not having any OT is not gonna pay for that Camaro. Plus, its gotten kinda boring. I can only surf the web for so long before going insane.

I haven't really been back out in Chinhae much since last time. Once or twice to grab a bite to eat when dinner just looks dreadful (really cook, fish heads?!). Beyond that, I'm just content to stay on board and work out and watch movies. I do go for runs on shore though. There just isn't much to do out in town except spend money. Hopefully some of the other ports are more interesting.  I'm really looking forward to Guam coming up sometime soon.

Thats about all I got. I'll do the next update after we leave Chinhae. I think it'll only take a day or so to get back to Sasebo.

Oh Hey. Chinhae!

Happy New Year! Another week or so has gone by and the adventure continues. We had an uneventful 2 day stay in Yokosuka and started for Chinhae, South Korea. Although we had a liberty boat in Yokosuka, I didn't go ashore. From hearing what little there was to do ashore, the spark for any motivation to mess around with the liberty boat just didn't fire and I stayed aboard.

The ride over to Chinhae went pretty smooth. We went through the South China Sea and Philippine Sea primarily. Most of the time it was as calm as the lake usually is, and sometimes even calmer. It took us about 50 hours to reach port. During that time I got the whole shebang of scenarios with heavy traffic. I had guys to overtake, people overtaking me, people crossing my bow, sliding between ships, and a few times of reduced visibility (<5 miles). If that wasn't a test of my skills, I don't know what is. For the most part, I like having to deal with traffic, it helps watch go by quicker.And I'm pretty much the best at it, so I got that going too.

So we pulled into Chinhae and now we sit. We are here for 4 weeks, mainly so the engineers can repair an engine and get it back online. So while in port, we (the other third mate and the 2nd mate) have divided the watch into 8 hour blocks and we each take one. Every 3 days we 'double back' and someone gets a 32 hour break. For instance, when we pulled in I was standing the 4pm-Midnight watch, we doubled back and I had an 8hr break and then went to the 8am-4pm watch. We doubled back again 2 days ago and I got an 8 hr break and then am now on the 12am-8am watch. I think the next time we double back is when I get my 32 hrs off.

I don't mind doubling back, its nice to get time off. But doing so every 3 days reeks havoc on any sorta sleep schedule (which is pretty much nil anyways), but I suppose I'm slowly getting used to it. There really isn't much for me to do on watch. I just hang out on the bridge and do general admin work. After I get off watch I usually pull a couple hours of overtime doing inspections of lifeboats and lifesaving equipment about the ship.

I have gone ashore here in Chinhae. We have a bus that takes us into town and drops us outside the gates to the base. I went and wondered about town and then went to base to the bar for some cheap drinks and a live band that was playing American cover songs. Though there were only about 10 of us in the bar, all from the ship, it wasn't too bad. The base is crazy small, so it wasn't a big surprise.

As I was getting ready to leave, one of the supply guys asked if I wanted to go into town and get some good Korean food...and of course I said sure. We took a cab to this place that was AMAZING. They brought us a whole bunch of marinated and spice pork and we had this mini-grill on the table where we cooked it ourselves. From there we put it in a lettuce leaf, put that whole thing in another green leaf, put some kind of sauce and sauteed onions on, rolled it all up and ate it. It was sooo good. I'm definitely going back. I have no idea what the place was called, but I the place had lighters with its name written in Korean on them, so I can just show a cabbie that for him to take me.

After that, we were just out walking about and I popped into a Mcdonald's to use the restroom. I caught some Korean girls eyes that were sitting at a booth and figured what the hell and stopped to chat with them. An hour later through choppy conversation and hand gestures I had some numbers and a date set up with a Korean hottie! I met up her today and she took me to another great Korean place to eat and she took me on a walking tour of the city showing me statues, parks, etc. It was pretty fun. I really need to invest in a Korean/English dictionary. Hopefully we'll meet again.

So that's pretty much all the excitement that I've been up to. We'll leave here towards the end of the month and go back to Sasebo and after that I have no idea. The only thing I know is that we should be going to and making runs around Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines around May-ish, though I haven't decided if I'm going to stay on for that long.

Thanks for reading!

The Matthew Perry

So much has happened since the last update (which seems like ages ago), I'm not sure where to start. so I'll just dive right in, forgive me for any randomness that might appear. I just had some cookies and feeling the sugar rush. ;)

Well, the plans to go to the Frank Cable in Guam fell through, and I was reassigned to join up with the USNS Mathew Perry, AKE-9. The Perry is one of 15 or so ammunition ships that MSC runs. We also carry fuel and oil onboard for transfer as well. But primarily, we carry stuff that goes boom. The Perry right now is operating as a floating warehouse, moving from place to place transporting missles and explosives from point to point. We aren't doing any underway replenshiment of Navy ships anytime soon in the forseeable future.

So I flew to Japan from Honolulu on a pretty average flight. Though everywhere I went (even at the Honolulu terminal) I could find nobody that could speak English, so I was kinda like, hope this is my flight and hopped on board. At Honolulu there was one sign with about 12 flight numbers for 3 different planes, all boarding at once. I wasn't quite sure which one to go to, so I just kinda followed a crowd which looked like they were going to Tokyo (no, I'm not sure how you can look like you are going to Tokyo, but these people did). When I go on board, I found my seat, it was empty so I thought I was off to a good start.

Then we started taxiing away to take off and they were like 'Welcome to Japan air flight yadda yadda yadda'...they listed off 4 different flight numbers for this one flight....none of which were mine. since  After a slight 'oh shit' moment I figured I was at least on a plane to Japan and would figure it out when I got there. To make this long story short, I was on the right flight.. I knew for sure when I found my baggage at the baggage claim. That flight was 12 hours, then I caught a 2 hour flight to Fukuoku, Japan..then a 2 hour bus ride to Sasebo. Then after catching a liberty boat to the ship at anchor I was finally on board at about 3 in the morning.

We were at anchor in Sasebo for the next 3 days I think. I'm not 100% sure, I don't really keep track of the days and weeks. I'm pretty much only good for the current time and what I'll be doing over the next 24 hours or so. Anything before or after that window of time...I'm useless. I got familiar with the ship, met the crew (99 total on board), and got adjusted and moved in.

My room is pretty good sized. I have a queen sized bed, desk and chair, lounging chair, wardrobe, drawers, and still plenty of floor space to have an impromptu dance party when the moment strikes. I also get my own bathroom and shower. Oh, and a stwerards deptartment that cleans and makes my bed. I feel like royalty on this boat.

I mostly socialize with the officers on board. Not so much that I try to avoid the unlicensed the guys, its just how it winds up being. The officers and unliscened guys live on diefferent decks (floors), eat in seperate messes, and have seperate lounges. The only time I see unliscned guys is when I'm on watch or ashore (which hasn't happened much yet).

The officers are amazing...probably one of the best crews in the fleet. Pretty young, everyone is under the age of 40, inluding the Capt. So we all have that 'newer' method of thinking and are a little more laid back and relaxed than some of the old salts who hate electronic navigation doohickies and are all about the old fashioned. Everyone gets along great, and things run like a well oiled machine. I do a lot of work with the 2nd mate (navigator) putting routes on charts and in the electronic instruments, doing chart corrections, etc. He's a pretty comical guy, one of those types who doesn't try to be funny just is. And he can be a bit of a grump, but like mad scientist grump, not I'm an asshole grump.

We left Sasebo just over 2 days go to head for Yokosuka, Japan. We just pulled in a few hours ago in fact. Here we are unloading a whole bunch of explosives (I can't say any particulars to the public). We had them all sitting out on the flight deck for offloading when we pulled in today. Seeing 200 million buckaroos of explosive ordanince out on deck drives home what we are doing on here. Its the real deal now, this isn't the Junior League Amateur Hour. 

At sea I stand the 8-12, 2000-0000 watch. I was expecting to be monitored and have the Capt have one of the other mates stand watch on the bridge with me the first few times since this is my first ship and all. I've heard of that being done with friends that have had their first hitches. But he asked me if I knew what I was doing and I said yea...he said call me if things get outta hand and left. Then it was just me...with 100 people on board trusting me to not run into anything and keep the ship safe. Yet another Oh Shit moment occured. Of course, I knew the Capt wasn't just dissapearing. He has repeaters of the RADAR, ECDIS (electronic chart and plotter), engine controls, etc down in his office and stateroom...so I knew he was probabbly down there watching me closely. But knowing that he trusted me enough to be alone on the bridge meant something to me...so that was pretty cool.

On the way we ran pretty close to the coast, staying about 80 mile or so off. The area is pretty high volume traffic, so during all the watches I spent most of it dodging and getting out of the guys that had right of way...and making sure the guys that I had right of way over knew it and acted accordingly. Its almost like solving a big puzzle as you go...and as long as you know what you're doing, its a blast. It really makes me love this job.

So no we are in Yokosuka offloading. We are here for 2 days,then taking off to Chinhae, Korea. There we will offload some stuff and then load some other stuff. But the main thing we will be doing there is repairing one of the engines. Something got loose a while back and tore apart 2 pistons, so those are being replaced. Its expected to take about 4 weeks or so. I'll probably go ashore tomorrow morning and go for a run and check things out. I have the 1600-0000 (midnight) watch so prob wont do anything too crazy. I hear where we are in Korea there are some cool temples nearby to check out so that should be fun. As long as its not Busan again...I could do without that. After Korea we head back down to Sasebo for a bit and then head to Guam for something, though I'm not sure what.

So I think thats about all I got for in the way of an update. I'll probably be underway to Korea for New Years, no big deal, just another day of work...and overtime!! I'm loving the overtime here, it's treating me rather well.

Thats all I got! Take care-

Going to Guam!

I have gotten official word today that I will be headed to Guam to join the USS Frank Cable as a 3rd Officer. The Cable is a submarine tender designed to assist, rescue, and supply nuclear submarines. However, it also assists and replenishment other ships from time to time from what I hear. A general tender.
Here is a link to look at the juicy details of her...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Frank_Cable_(AS-40)

I will be flying from Hawaii to Guam..although not 100% sure when. All I know that it will most likely be by Friday. I am obligated to stay for at least 4 months, but with the pay and schedule, I'll probably stay longer. I will be in Guam for about a month, and then we start making our way to Portland, OR for the shipyard. We stop in Hawaii on the way. I heard we will be in Hawaii on Jan 23rd. We are probably only stopping for food, stores, and fuel. Then we will head to the shipyard for general repairs, maintenance, and upgrades.

We will probably be in the yard for quite some time, so MSC will most likely rent me a fully furnished apartment and give me a stipened for food (100 a day). Not too shabby to live for free in Portland for possible a couple months. After Portland I'm guessing we will most likely go back to Guam. I don't imagine we would go to San Diego or anything where other MSC ships are.

The ship is a USS ship, not a USNS ship. This means it is staffed mostly by Navy. It has a Navy Capt and all that fun stuff. I'm gonna have to freshen up on my military lingo and what not. I'm not sure what MSC personell are all on there, I know there is a chief mate, second mate, and two 3rd mates, but not sure much beyond that. I'm sure there are at least a few more.

So there ya have it! There are my upcoming adventures. Check out the picture section, I put up a slideshow covering the Cleveland tow. Soooo many pictures I didn't feel like captioning them all. Plus its dinner time and a nice juicy steak is calling me in.

Enjoy!

Hawaiian Times

Well we made it to Hawaii safe and sound on Friday the 9th around noon. I posted a couple of blog entries from the trip over. It wasn't too exciting, everything pretty much went as the first week went.

I am now done with all the training and have my mate of towing endorsement. Since the ship is on a budget, and I'm extra, there really isn't any work for me to do now because the chief mate and capt. don't want me pulling overtime. Aw shucks, I guess I'll just have to get off the boat and go out and have fun in Hawaii. 

All I'm doing now is waiting. I'll either be transferred to another ship or sent back to the pool in San Diego or Norfolk to wait around there for another ship. Trying to get a hold of the detailers who are in charge of that though is near impossible, they are notoriously lousy at their jobs. I imagine I'll be sitting here for at least another week or so. I'm ready to get off and either get into a nice big hotel room or get my own state room with a bed that isn't a coffin of a bunk. This boat gets smaller and smaller every day. But until then, I'm enjoying the nice warm temps of the island and the sunny beaches, and the bikinis. 

I'll update next when I get word on where I'm going. Til next time,