USS Enterprise (CVN 65)
The Shuttle Newsletter Edition
“We are Legend”
July 10, 2012 Issue
MM1 Perdun Celebrates 10 years on Big E Story and Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Randy J. Savarese USS ENTERPRISE, At Sea -- “People ask me how I’ve done it, how I’ve survived on this ship for 10 years,” said Machinist’s Mate 1st Class Jonathan Perdun. “I tell them it’s really been alright. This ship and I have been together for a long time and I am a little excited it’s finally being decommissioned. At the same time though, I am sad to see her go. I’ve been here for 10 years and now it’s going to be gone.” It goes without saying that quite a bit can happen in a decade. Perdun knows this firsthand. For 10 consecutive years he has seen people come and go, the ship go through numerous makeovers and witnessed vast leaps in technological knowhow. Today, July 10, Perdun will celebrate his 10th year aboard aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65). To put this into perspective, it’s just short of the time he has spent married. Perdun, who works in the engineering department, has dedicated nearly a third of his life to the only ship he’s MM1 Jonathan Perdun, from Brandon, Fla., has served 10 years on Enterprise. ever known. later.’” Arriving fresh from “A” school, Perdun faced the same Perdun has also seen a lot of people rise through the ranks challenges every new Sailor has reporting to their first sea to become chiefs and officers. Many people have left the command…that is, if every sea command was in the shipyard ship for other assignments, only to return to Enterprise to when they reported. find Perdun still hard at work ensuring the ship maintains its “I got to the ship and saw the machinery room for the first operational readiness. time and it was just huge,” said Perdun. “Everything was “It’s not so much what has changed as far as equipment spread out and the valves were three or four times the size of or attitudes, but the people I have seen come and go in the the valves I learned on in “A” school. I looked around and said, time I have been here,” said Perdun. “The Engineer was the ‘there are four more of these?’” main propulsion assistant. It was pretty interesting to see that Over the course of 10 years, everything experiences at transformation occur.” least some change…including the very machinery that enables It’s difficult for a man who started as a mechanic for Enterprise to be a global force for good. Enterprise was the the Number 4 power plant, who worked his way through first nuclear carrier. A test platform for what works and what planning and estimation (eventually becoming the lead could work better. Perdun stood on the forefront of many of planner), moving on to become the leading petty officer for the changes that have been implemented throughout these long one main machinery room before becoming a ship’s quality years, bringing Enterprise to where it is today. assurance supervisor, to imagine a life beyond the hull of this “I’ve seen a lot of equipment get retired,” said Perdun. historic ship. “They decided the machines didn’t work anymore so they “There is a third of my life in this ship,” said Perdun. replaced them with something better or just got rid of the “Now I am going to leave and I’m not going to be able to system entirely. So now there are blank spots in the plant and come back. I’ve seen people leave for shore duty and then when junior personnel come in, they ask about these big blank come back to the ship for another sea rotation but, when I spots. I just tell them, ‘that was an old piece of equipment. You leave, the ship is gone. It’s like a little piece of me is going don’t have to worry about that anymore; you can thank me away. I’ll probably shed a tear or two.”