Jason Dunham holds Damage Control Olympics

Photo By Deven King | Sailors from repair locker two test their pipe-patching skills during damage control Olympics on the flight deck of the guided-missile destroyer USS Jason Dunham (DDG 109). Jason Dunham is on a scheduled deployment in support of maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of responsibility. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Deven B. King)  

MEDITERRANEAN SEA, USAFRICOM, AT SEA

08.30.2012

Courtesy Story

U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. Sixth Fleet

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Deven King, USS Jason Dunham Public Affairs

MEDITERRANEAN SEA – The guided-missile destroyer USS Jason Dunham (DDG 109) recently held a damage control (DC) Olympics while underway during the ship’s maiden deployment in the Mediterranean Sea, Aug. 29.

Sailors from the ship’s three damage control repair locker teams displayed their damage control knowledge and capabilities by competing against each other in a series of scored events, including communications, plotting, pipe patching and hose handling.

“The point of the DC Olympics is to test each locker’s knowledge and ability to work as a team,” said Chief Damage Controlman Christopher Haas. “It’s also a chance to get outside and put the skills learned during general quarters (GQ) drills to use and to earn the bragging rights of being the best repair locker.”

In shipboard DC training, damage scenarios are simulated and the sailors usually walk away from the event covered in no more than a little sweat. In the DC Olympics, however, sailors experience the force of a fire hose and how much water can really come from a burst pipe and leave the events soaked in cold salt water.

“It was more hands-on than normal,” said Damage Control Fireman Kenneth Brown, a member of the pipe patching team from repair locker three. “You get to use the equipment while the water is flowing, and since it was a timed event there was a greater sense of urgency, like what a real GQ would feel like.”

During GQ drills, repair lockers are broken down into teams, each with a different role in damage control. Haas said one of the most beneficial things about the DC Olympics is that sailors from different teams within the lockers are able to see the big picture.

“In GQ, the locker will send out a pipe patching team or fire team, but the other Sailors might not understand the details of their job,” said Haas. “During the Olympics, the entire locker can see what the team is doing and it builds a better understanding of each person’s responsibility and what it takes to accomplish their task.”

Repair locker three won the day, and the bragging rights, besting repair lockers two and five in DC plotting and hose handling. The reward was an ice cream social and a plaque to hang on the locker door, which Brown says will have its own impact on training by encouraging a healthy competition and improving esprit de corps throughout the whole damage control organization.

“We were considered underdogs going in, so to have the plaque means we really stepped up and now the other lockers will be gunning for us,” Brown said.

Jason Dunham is on a scheduled deployment in support of maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of responsibility.

• Date Taken: 08.30.2012
• Date Posted: 08.30.2012 09:25
• Story ID: 94030
• Location: MEDITERRANEAN SEA, USAFRICOM, AT SEA