USS Enterprise (CVN 65)
The Shuttle Newsletter Edition
“We are Legend”
May 1, 2012 Issue
Behind the Double Blue Doors
By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class (SW/AW) Jared King “Man all recovery stations, man all recovery stations,” sounds over the 5MC, an announcing system aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65). Sailors and Marines scramble to their assigned duty stations on the flight deck in order to carry out their daily responsibilities, ensuring the safe and expeditious recovery of aircraft. The vociferous growl and gust of the turbine engines is heard from the flight deck as jets fly overhead and parallel to the island until the time the aircraft bump and thump on the flight deck as the arresting gear wire snags the tail hook of the aircraft. It appears a routine day, business as usual, until SNAP! Sailors dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge as if playing a game, but this is no game - their lives are at stake. Situations such as this are in Cpl. Kenneth W. Bowden, assigned to the Thunderbolts of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron the forefront of the minds of three (VMFA) 251, holds up film to an illuminator to locate defects on circuit cards in the NonSailors and one Marine, assigned to Destructive Inspection Lab aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65). Aviation Intermediate Maintenance leading petty officer. “Finding any crack or defect means you Department’s (AIMD) Non-Destructive Inspection (NDI) are saving a life.” Lab. This small, yet meticulous group works to ensure that Whether it is a 100-hour inspection or a 400-hour inspection, equipment failures do not occur aboard the Big E. the NDI technicians must be ready at all times. Occasionally, Located on the fantail behind the double blue doors, far a hard landing will cause great stress on certain aircraft parts, from the sight of the flight deck, is a highly-committed group leading to random inspections of the aircraft. of personell dedicated to the detailed inspections of all aircraft “When an inspection comes, my guys are always ready,” said parts and topside arresting gear. Okpara. “They are hard workers and they always do everything The NDI Lab is exclusively responsible for inspecting parts by the book.” for corrosion, cracks and defects that could possibly cost As collateral duty inspectors, it is necessary to utilize someone their life or the Navy a 30-million dollar aircraft. references and publications to know and understand the The NDI technicians are professionals, all of whom were specifics required for each job. recommended after completing their first term of enlistment “I enjoy what I do and I think I contribute a lot to and having proven themselves through sustained superior maintaining the safety of the pilots and the crew on the flight performance. deck,” said Cpl. Kenneth W. Bowden, NDI’s shop technition. They have five extremely effective methods of inspection: eddy current, ultra-sonic, magnetic, x-ray and liquid penetrant. “There is no time for complacency during my work day. If I say a part is good, then the part is good.” The particular inspection method chosen is dependent upon These three Sailors and Marine continue to run Big E’s NDI either the piece of metal or an engineer recommendation. Lab around the clock, and are always ready on arrival. “We prevent mishaps from happening,” said Aviation Structural Mechanic 1st Class Ikechukwu E. Okpara, IM-2’s
The Shuttle
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Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Big E Happenings
Photos by MC3 Scott Pittman
Sailors test a M61A1 gun system of an F/A-18F Super Hornet.
Cpl. Victor Castellanos, with the Thunderbolts of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 251, re-wires the lighting system of an F/A-18C Hornet.
Aviation Electrician’s Mate Airman David Peterson, with the Checkmates of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 211, Aviation Support Equipment Technician 3rd Aviation Structural Mechanic 2nd wipes down the forward landing gear Class Morgan Butkus builds a tire for an aircraft Class Michael Lewis checks the freon toe-tractor. levels of a C-21 air conditioning unit. of an F/A-18F Super Hornet.
It’s Graduation Season for the Class of 2012!
Do you have a loved one who will be graduating while we are deployed? Media Department would like to help you produce a personalized video “shout-out” for use at the graduation event or simply for family members to watch at home. If interested, please contact MC2(SW) Robert Guerra via e-mail or visit SITE TV to schedule a production meeting and time. Please allow no less than 14 days before the event to allow for production and transmission time.
The votes are in for the 2012 Tiger Cruise Logo… THANK YOU to all who took the time to vote! Congratulations to MC3(SW) Jeffry Willadsen, Media Department, who received 579 votes for the following design.
The Shuttle USS Enterprise (CVN 65)
The Shuttle is published and printed daily underway and bi-weekly in port by the USS Enterprise (CVN 65) Media Department, FPO AE 09543-2810. This newspaper is an authorized publication for members of the Department of Defense. Please direct all story ideas, questions and comments to MC1 (SW) Steve Smith at smithsw@cvn65. navy.mil. Commanding Officer Executive Officer Capt. William C. Hamilton, Jr. Capt. G. C. Huffman Command Master Chief ABCM (AW/SW) Eric M. Young
Public Affairs Officer Lt. Cmdr. Sarah T. Self-Kyler
Editors MC2 (SW) Kristin L. Grover MCSN Harry Gordon MCSN Brian G. Reynolds
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
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In the News Experts Believe Iran Conflict is Less Likely By James Risen, NEW YORK TIMES WASHINGTON — After a winter crisis than expected, even though no of alarm over the possibility that agreement was reached other than to a military conflict over the Iranian talk again, in Baghdad next month. nuclear program might be imminent, American officials believe the looming American officials and outside threat of tighter economic sanctions analysts now believe that the chances to take effect on July 1 convinced the of war in the near future have Iranians to take the negotiations more significantly decreased. seriously, and that in turn has reduced They cite a series of factors that, the threat of war. for now, argue against a conflict. The “There is a combination of factors threat of tighter economic sanctions coming on line, including the talks has prompted the Iranians to try more and the sanctions, and so now I think flexible tactics in their dealings with people realize it has to be given time the United States and other powers, to play out,” one administration while the revival of direct negotiations official said, who, like the other has tempered the most inflammatory official, spoke without attribution in talk on all sides. order to discuss sensitive matters. A growing divide in Israel between “We are in a period now where political leaders and military and the combination of diplomacy and intelligence officials over the pressure is giving us a window.” wisdom of attacking Iran has begun In a television appearance on to surface. And the White House Wednesday, Senator John Kerry, appears determined to prevent any the chairman of the Senate Foreign confrontation that could disrupt world Relations Committee, said, “I oil markets in an election year. have confidence that there is a way “I do think the temperature has forward.” cooled,” an Obama administration Senior Iranian leaders have sought official said this week. to portray the Istanbul round of At the same time, no one is negotiations as successful, which discounting the possibility that the might be a sign, American officials current optimism could fade. “While and outside analysts said, that the there isn’t an agreement between Iranian government is preparing the the U.S. and Israel on how much public for a deal with the West that time, there is an agreement that there could be portrayed as a win for Iran. is some time to give diplomacy a “I see that we are at the beginning chance,” said Dennis B. Ross, who of the end of what I call the previously handled Iran policy for the ‘manufactured Iran file,’ ” the Iranian Obama administration. foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, “So I think right now you have a said after the talks. “At the Baghdad focus on the negotiations,” he added. meeting, I see more progress,” he “It doesn’t mean the threat of using predicted. force goes away, but it lies behind the IRNA, the Iranian state-controlled diplomacy.” news service, reported last week that The talks two weeks ago in Istanbul a leading Iranian cleric, Ayatollah between Iran and the United States and Kazem Seddiqi, had made positive other world powers were something statements about the negotiations. of a turning point in the current The news service said that the cleric, American thinking about Iran. In the in his Friday sermon to thousands days leading up to the talks, there had of worshipers in Tehran, said that if been little optimism in Washington, the United States and other nations but Iranian negotiators appeared more negotiating with Iran show “the flexible and open to resolving the outcome will be good for all.”
Somali Pirates Change Tactics to Evade Navy By Jonathan Saul, REUTERS
LONDON - Somali pirates are switching back to using smaller cargo and fishing boats as motherships, hoping to evade detection as maritime security is stepped up to foil their attacks on merchant vessels, industry and navy sources say. With the prospect of ransoms worth tens of millions of dollars, Somali pirates continue to threaten vital shipping lanes in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean. Over 20 years of war and famine have worsened prospects for Somalis, adding to the appeal for many young men of crime on the high seas. Armed gangs had started using large merchant vessels - including tankers - that they had seized as motherships, forcing crews by gunpoint to do their bidding. The tactic, employed agressively in 2011, enabled them to operate further out at sea. But vigorous action by navies, including pre-emptive strikes, have cut attacks, forcing pirates to adapt their model. “We are seeing a change in tactics,” said Joe Angelo, managing director with INTERTANKO, an association whose members own the majority of the world’s oil tanker fleet. “They are now hijacking smaller dhows and they are using them as motherships which is making them less suspicious.” Traditional dhows, used by fishermen and general merchants in the region, were first deployed by Somali pirates before they started using larger captured vessels. The larger vessels enabled gangs to operate for longer periods at sea with more supplies and in harsher weather conditions, as well giving them more flexibility when launching their high speed attack craft known as skiffs.
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The Shuttle
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Big E Entertainment
ACROSS 1. Displays 6. Conspiracy 10. Superhero accessory 14. Basic belief 15. Employ 16. Garments of goat hair 17. Cowboy movie 18. Portent
19. Lease 20. The creation of goods 22. Curse 23. Gait faster than a walk 24. Chemical cousin 26. Information 30. Card with one symbol 31. Male offspring 32. Applications
33. Gestures of assent 35. Burdened 39. Error 41. Variant of an element 43. Terrace 44. Scream 46. Arab chieftain 47. Japanese apricot 49. Former boxing champ 50. A style of design 51. Extreme cruelty 54. Drop down 56. Throw 57. Analgesic 63. Bright thought 64. Away from the wind 65. Depart 66. Decree 67. Young girl 68. Female demon 69. Ripped 70. The products of human creativity 71. A stone fragment DOWN 1. Cease 2. Listen 3. Savvy about 4. Noxious plant 5. Swagger 6. A copy of a paper
7. Not excessive 8. Chocolate cookie 9. Wimbledon sport 10. Fizzy 11. Perpendicular to the keel 12. A fabric resembling velvet 13. Banana oil, e.g. 21. Large long-necked bird 25. Alone 26. Throw away as refuse 27. Largest continent 28. Exam 29. Acculturate 34. Foolishness 36. A hemispherical roof 37. Sweeping story 38. Roman emperor 40. Foot digits 42. Move furtively 45. Least difficult 48. African antelope 51. Change gears 52. Sound 53. Gloomy, in poetry 55. Slays 58. Winglike 59. Jump 60. Tibetan monk 61. Wicked 62. Genuine