Seattle, July 3, 2017 —
“All those not sailing aboard HEALY to Honolulu, lay ashore.” –LTJG Jon Lash over HEALY’s 1MC Announcement System
Welcome back faithful readers to another exciting summer of CGC HEALY operations. HEALY and her crew set sail on a rainy Seattle Tuesday bound for Hawaii en route to the Arctic (our Navigator must have gotten a bit turned around). Since getting underway, HEALY’s crew has been hard at work conducting a final shakedown of all systems and training aggressively as we prepare to stand into the Arctic for the first time this summer.
Since returning from AWS-16 last October, HEALY completed a training and readiness assessment, a comprehensive dockside maintenance period during which crewmembers, port engineers and civilian contractors conducted critical repairs on the ship, and a shakedown cruise. During the three-week assessment, HEALY completed a battery of testing and drills to evaluate the effectiveness of on-board training teams and the crew’s response to casualties. The crew exceeded standards by scoring over 96% on all graded evolutions and received the coveted Overall Operational Readiness Excellence Award for outstanding performance. During shakedown in May, HEALY spent approximately a week underway preparing for the upcoming mission and testing the efficacy of dockside repairs. Finally, HEALY hosted friends and family on a day cruise through Puget Sound with over 150 family and friends joining us for a beautiful day underway.
Also new since last summer is our Commanding Officer, Captain Greg Tlapa, who relieved Captain Jason Hamilton on June 22nd. Captain Tlapa is reporting from his assignment as service chair at the Naval War College in Newport, RI, and returns to HEALY after last serving as Executive Officer during the historic RENDA mission where HEALY escorted a Russian fuel tanker into the Alaskan city of Nome following a full AWS deployment. Welcome aboard (and welcome back) Captain Tlapa, and fair winds and open leads to Captain Hamilton!
Throughout the past week the crew has been preparing for upcoming missions by running drills and qualifying new personnel. Shortly after getting us underway from Seattle, Ensign Taylor Peace became our newest Underway Officer of the Deck—Congratulations on the qualification and significant milestone in your career! Also this week, ENS Sam Wood, ENS Carlie Gilligan, ENS Ryan Carpenter, CDT Abby Mann, CDT Julieann Rogers, SN Frank Lenihan, SN Blake Berryman, and SA Jacob Molina all qualified as Helm and Lookout watchstanders, serving as the eyes and ears of the ship to keep everyone safe. Congratulations to all of our newly qualified personnel!
In order to refresh all hands on their damage control (DC) duties, our newly reported Assistant Engineer Officer, Lieutenant Kevin O’Brien, organized a DC Round Robin, where subject matter experts taught new and old crewmembers the principles of investigation techniques, hose handling, pump operation, donning an SCBA, and erecting shoring. A big thank you to all our teachers on educating the crew on these valuable skills!
HEALY’s wardroom had a few changes this week as HEALY’s Operations Officer, Dan Everette, was promoted to the rank of Commander on July 1st. Additionally, Lieutenant Emiliano Vasquez, HEALY’s former Assistant Engineer Officer, officially relieved Lieutenant Commander Eileen Beck of her duties as Engineer Officer. LCDR Beck will depart HEALY from Honolulu. Thanks for a Great tour LCDR Beck…open leads! And congratulations OPS and EO!
HEALY closed out the week with a field day on Saturday morning followed by holiday routine and “steel beach” where crewmembers were allowed to work on their tans before arriving in Hawaii. On Sunday, the cooks prepared an early 4th of July celebration on the flight deck complete with hamburgers, hot dogs, and pasta salad. The evening concluded with some celestial navigation practice led by HEALY’s Assistant Operations Officer, Lieutenant Junior Grade Brian Hagerty and Midshipman Alex LePage of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.
Check back weekly for more information on HEALY’s Arctic West Summer 2017 mission!
Very Respectfully,
ENS Chris DiBari
Public Affairs Officer
USCGC HEALY (WAGB 20)
For more information about CGC Healy, please visit:
http://www.icefloe.net
Captain’s Corner: Greetings HEALY family and friends! It’s great to be back, and underway. Team HEALY is as solid as ever and I am fortunate to rejoin such an esteemed group of sailors. We have a short stop in Hono for some early deployment R&R, and then on to the business at hand of science exploration in the Arctic!
Semper Paratus,
Captain Greg B. Tlapa
Commanding Officer
USCGC HEALY (WAGB 20)
Ex Arctic Scientia
“From the Arctic, Knowledge”