Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Jason Pastrick | 170722-N-OS895-0227NORFOLK, Va. (July 22, 2017) – Sailors assigned to USS Gerald. R....... read more read more
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Bringing the ship to life is a time-honored Navy tradition. When a ship is commissioned, the ship’s sponsor gives the command to man the ship and take charge of their posts.
Ford’s crew executed the command during the ceremony, but it was their hard work prior to the event that allowed it to happen.
“We did a lot of practices on the flight deck,” said Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Handling) Airman Mariann Battee. “The first few days were kind of rough with figuring out all of our spots and running there together.”
Sailors from Ford’s air department ran out to man the rails in sleight-of-hand fashion as Sailors from Ford’s weapons department ran through the hangar bay.
“We had two formations of 100 Sailors apiece, waiting for the call to bring the ship to life,” said Chief Aviation Ordnanceman Tony Robeson, head of the team that brought the ship to life. “It was challenging trying to work with 200 Sailors that have different appointments and work assignments to take care of on top of getting in practice for the ceremony.”
Ford Sailors had to face many challenges, especially the heat during commissioning day.
“It was difficult on the day of the commissioning,” said Robeson. “We were standing in formation on the pier in our dress whites on such a hot and humid day, but my junior Sailors took the challenge, and I was blown away by how professional they were and how their military bearing was on point.”
As difficult as it was, Sailors included in that evolution agree on the significance of the experience.
“As soon as Susan Ford Bales said ‘bring the ship to life’, and we started running through the hangar bay and saw the crowd clapping and cheering, it was almost like super star status,” said Robeson. “All eyes were on us at that point. It was a great experience to have, a once in a lifetime experience. “
Battee added that bringing the ship to life “…was a good rush.”
“We all started running out on the flight deck, and you could hear Anchor’s Aweigh playing,” said Battee. “You could see other Sailors running from the pier to the ship and hear the crowd standing and cheering. It felt like they were cheering us on. It just felt real good, like we finally accomplished the commissioning of the ship.”
Robeson added that even though it was a short piece of the overall commissioning ceremony, he would never forget it.
“To be a part of history and such a time-honored tradition was amazing,” said Robeson. “I would do it again in a heartbeat.”
| Date Taken: | 08.15.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 11.13.2017 10:30 |
| Story ID: | 255047 |
| Location: | VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 82 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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