THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 5, 1997 TAG: 9702050648
SECTION: MILITARY NEWS PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALVA CHOPP, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: 102 lines
Stocking up on vegetables is a feat of derring-do for the Navy's ships at sea. So, for that matter, is getting gas and picking up fresh milk.
Mundane suburban routines require Navy ships to steam alongside each other and to pass supplies, fuel or ammo from one to the next - a hazardous dance that requires nerve from each crew, split-second timing and cooperative weather.
The maneuver takes place constantly among warships scattered across the globe: On Monday, the Norfolk-based carrier Theodore Roosevelt took on 1.1 million gallons of fuel as it steamed beside an oiler in the Mediterranean Sea, and last week, the Norfolk-based carrier Enterprise braved huge pressure waves and the threat of heavy weather as it unloaded bombs and missiles to a support ship off the Carolinas.
Now the only Navy to routinely pair its ships in side-by-side ``underway replenishment'' has opened a new school at the Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base to train deck personnel in the intricacies and choreography of such mid-sea meetings.
The Standard Tensioned Replenishment Alongside Method/Underway Replenishment Training Facility, commonly referred to as STREAM/UNREP, is a state of the art training ground for any ship deck person destined to share in replenishment duties, according to Lt. Richard Van Vliet, the facility's officer in charge.
``Ideally what we want to do is create a one-stop shop for training,'' he said. The new facility, built on 2.4 acres of property at a cost of $4.3 million, is a high-tech mock-up of paired ships. High steel towers, one representing an oiler or supply ship, the other the receiving ship, face off like stoic giants behind the building's classrooms.
Although cables and hoses still await installation, the hands-on outdoor classroom has all the look of the real thing.
``The only thing missing,'' Van Vliet said, ``is blue water and a pitching deck.''
Replenishment must be precise to succeed. Cruising at 14 knots on parallel courses, two ships sidle until they are less than 200 feet apart.
Van Vliet said a carrier can receive fuel and cargo at the same time, using five replenishing lines simultaneously. With so much at stake, ships generally want to take on supplies as quickly as possible, then break away to safer distances.
Fuel hoses can transfer 3,000 gallons of fuel per minute to a carrier and the cargo drop rails can accommodate 5,700 pounds of cargo.
``We can send anything from beans, bullets and gas to a ship,'' said Van Vliet, adding that he's even seen sailors reenlist while sitting on a suspension chair on a high line between two ships.
``Side-by-side underway replenishment is the fastest way to receive cargo,'' he said. It's not uncommon for an oiler or supply ship to send supplies to a carrier from its port side while at the same time replenishing a smaller ship on the starboard side.
The exchange is challenging at best. In bad weather and heavy seas, an underway replenishment, or ``unrep,'' can be among the most hazardous events at sea.
But Navy ships depend on it. Unreps keep warships at sea. The Navy developed the procedure, and is beginning to teach the side-by-side system to several other NATO countries.
``If we didn't have side-by-side underway replenishment, we'd have to stop a ship dead in the water and transfer cargo by boat or helicopters,'' he said. ``The only commodity you can transfer from bow to stern (as used in other countries) is fuel.''
The new school at Little Creek began operating two classes in January. Three other courses are expected to begin in June when the final equipment is installed.
The Fuel Probe and Cargo Drop Reel class teaches sailors how to maintain specific pieces of equipment.
Before cargo can be transported from one ship to the other, it must be moved into place on the deck - and the Forklift Operator's class demonstrates how to maneuver the vehicles through a maze of crowded storage units onboard a pitching deck.
Two courses, to begin in June, will teach the crew how to maintain and operate mechanical and hydraulic equipment used in the handoffs, as well as the electrical and electronic components.
And the STREAM Operator's course will eventually show deck personnel how to handle the high-tension hoses and cables that link the ships at sea.
The facility is expected to train about 800 students each year, among them Navy sailors, NATO allies and civilian mariners.
STREAM/UNREP, formerly taught at two separate facilities at Treasure Island, Calif., was consolidated and moved to Little Creek last November as a result of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission.
``Replenishment at sea is in direct support of the Navy's mission,'' said Van Vliet. ``Gas, bullets and beans is the bread and butter of the Navy.
``Without those three commodities the world doesn't go around.'' ILLUSTRATION: RICHARD L. DUNSTON
The Virginian-Pilot
Lt. Richard Vliet directs the Navy's new training center at the
Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base, where deck personnel learn the
intricacies of mid-sea meetings to transfer fuel, food or equipment.
A pair of towers, one representing an oiler or supply ship, the
other the receiving ship, let sailors practice s if they were at
sea.
Equipment at the center, such as this fuel probe, is identical to
the real life models.