Rear Adm. Mark H. Buzby, Commander, Military Sealift Command (MSC), visited submarine tender USS Frank Cable (AS 40), Nov. 20, to assess the ship’s material condition and the progress of work since MSC integrated the ship with civil service mariners (CIVMAR) in February 2010.
Navy Capt. Pete Hildreth , Frank Cable’s commanding officer, and CIVMARs Chief Mate Joseph Siddell and Chief Engineer James Shirley , greeted Buzby and led him on a tour of the ship.
“This was a great opportunity to showcase the work that the Navy and the CIVMAR crew have done on board the ship,” said Siddell. “Rear Adm. Buzby saw the progress we’ve made since the last time he came onboard.”
As Buzby toured the ship he saw first hand the strides made to improve the ship’s engineering spaces, reefer decks, boats and crane spaces, supply storerooms and the MSC berthing.
“He recognized the improvements of the material conditions of some long-standing problems in the engine room and fire room,” said Hildreth. “He was very complimentary to the job that engineer and deck departments had done.”
After his tour, Buzby held an all hands call on the crew’s mess with the CIVMARs to discuss current issues and update them on new plans of relief and the rotation of four to five years for the permanent crew. Buzby also talked about the implementation of the new dual band Next Generation Wideband commercial satellite communications infrastructure and service.
“Basically for the same cost that I’m paying today for a little bandwidth, I could buy almost double the bandwidth so we can provide greater capacity for crew use,” said Buzby. “That’s the plan, and it’s going to happen really soon.”
Buzby took questions from the CIVMAR crew and addressed their concerns, acknowledging the plan to complete jobs when the ship goes through a regular overhaul and dry docking in Vigor Marine, LLC in Portland, Oregon.
“I think he was really happy to see the team come together on relatively short notice to get the ship ready for the flag officer visit,” said Hildreth. “The ship looked good, and the crew did a good job getting ready for it.”
Frank Cable conducts maintenance and support of submarines and surface vessels deployed in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility.
[mappress] Naval Today Staff, November 23, 2011; Image: navy