The Shuttle
USS Enterprise (CVN 65)
Newsletter Edition
“We are Legend”
February 6, 2012 Issue
G4 Rises to the Occasion By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class (SW) Jeffry Willadsen USS ENTERPRISE, At Sea – The Weapons department aboard and 2,000 lbs., making it impossible for them to reach to their the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) is constantly intended aircraft by any other means. Other weaponry stored working to keep the ship ready for combat operations. below decks such as missiles, ammunition, and crew-served Weapons department Sailors can be seen wearing red weapons are of considerable weight and are also lifted via the throughout the ship busy with their various duties, which elevators. include building bombs and missiles, delivering ordnance to The weapons elevators are also used for various other tasks, aircraft on the flight deck, training their shipmates on small such as transferring supplies in and out Enterprise’s cargo holds arms, and many other tasks. as well as transporting medical patients on stretchers up from the lower levels of the ship and from the flight deck. “Our elevators are a very useful platform for many purposes other than transferring ordnance,” said Dooley. “If we aren’t able to transfer heavy things from level to level with ease, life aboard this ship would be impossible. It’s not a glamorous job, but it’s vital.” G4 is unique among Enterprise’s Weapons department, in that it is a division made up of three different rates. While other Weapons Department divisions consist fully of either Gunner’s Mates or Aviation Ordnancemen, G4 is staffed with Aviation Ordnancemen, Machinist’s Mates and Electrician’s Mates. All these rates are required to operate and maintain a system as complicated as Enterprise’s weapons elevators. Upon arrival on Enterprise, G4 Sailors are trained specifically to properly maintain and safely operate the ship’s weapons elevator systems. “Having the different rates working together ensures that we are all the best at what we do,” said Aviation US Navy photo by MCSN Harry Andrew D. Gordon However, many Sailors aboard the ship may be unaware that Ordnanceman 2nd Class Alex B. Pearson. “This job is important and has the possibility of being dangerous, so we there is a division of the Weapons department working behind have to be at the top of our game.” the scenes to keep combat operations running like a well-oiled G4 Sailors may be called on to operate the elevators at any machine. G4 division works around the clock to ensure that the time of the day or night. Two Sailors are required to operate weapons elevators are properly maintained and operated safely each elevator, one as an operator, and one as a safety observer. and precisely. G4 Sailors also tirelessly maintain their equipment, G4 is in charge of 13 weapons elevators and their function is performing between 1,500 to 2,000 maintenance evolutions to deliver ordnance and ammunition from weapons magazines each year. Maintenance is an endless process that is meant to located on the lower levels of Enterprise to the flight deck keep the weapons elevators in top working condition according and hangar bay of the ship. This is where they are loaded onto to Pearson. aircraft, or used in defense of the ship. “We all want to do our part to complete the mission,” said “The primary purpose of an aircraft carrier is to deliver Pearson. “In G4, our part is to keep these elevators as ready as ordnance onto targets in order to complete our Navy’s possible for when Enterprise needs them.” missions,” said Aviation Ordnanceman 1st Class Ryan G. Though G4 does a job that may be considered low visibility, Dooley, leading petty officer of G4. “We ensure that ordnance G4 Sailors take a tremendous amount of pride in their work. makes it from the magazines to the flight deck to complete that “We go vertical when everyone else is going horizontal,” goal.” said Aviation Ordnanceman 3rd Class Nick L. Rush. “That’s The elevators transfer bombs ranging in weight between 500 our job, and we do it well.”