Officials join crew during Fleet Week celebrations
The captain of the U.S. Naval Ship Yuma invited local officials to cruise on the vessel during Fleet Week in New York City. Mayor Doug Nicholls, City Administrator Greg Wilkinson and Yuma County Supervisor Russell McCloud shared their impressions and experiences with the Yuma Sun.
Wilkinson and McCloud joined Captain David Gommo and his crew on the ship May 22-28 as it cruised from Norfolk, Va., to New York City. Nicholls joined the ship May 29-31 in New York City and cruised down the East Coast back to the Yuma’s home, Little Creek Amphibious Base in Virginia.
Fleet Week New York is a weeklong celebration that honors members of
the Navy, Coast Guard and Marine Corps and includes a Parade of Ships, a flotilla of visiting vessels and tall ships that cruise along the Hudson River, as well as a military demonstration designed to show off the capabilities of the maritime services.
Flying the Yuma city flag on its mast, the 338foot long USNS Yuma is a transport ship that carries equipment and passengers with 20,000 square feet of storage and deck space. It is operated by the civilian Merchant Marines, with a crew of 26.
In wartime, the ship would become an auxiliary of the U.S. Navy, transporting military personnel and materials and may even operate as a hospital, but it never engages in war activities.
“The ship is — in technology and speed — very well equipped to transport military personnel and military cargo,” McCloud said.
It’s now able to carry 312 marines, however, two seats will soon be removed, in a nod to the “3:10 to Yuma” movie.
All three officials got to steer the ship in open waters. But not with a steering wheel, as many might imagine. Rather, today’s modern ships use joysticks and knobs. Yes, they agreed, very much like a video game.
“It was cool,” Wilkinson said.
They got to do a number of things with the crew. “The captain was so amazingly accommodating,” McCloud said, pointing out that he allowed them to be on the bridge the majority of the time although it’s very tight quarters.
“It’s a very able crew. The captain pretty much picked out his crew. You could feel how the crew really liked the captain. The camaraderie among them is outstanding,” the supervisor noted.
A retired Marine, Wilkinson has been on quite a few ships, but it’s very different being on a Merchant Marine ship.
Nicholls had never been on a moving military ship before. “It was very interesting, very high tech. I was surprised it goes up to 49 knots, which is really fast, but it doesn’t feel like it,” the mayor said, noting that buffers camouflage the roar of the engines.
Nicholls was also surprised by the ship’s “amazing agility,” like its ability to move sideways. It is made of aluminum so it can’t use tug boats. Instead, it maneuvers through the power of four 12,000-horsepower dual engines, each operating with water jets.
The lightness of the ship means it’s always shallow, only 12 feet in the water, even when fully loaded. The aluminum keeps it lightly afloat.
The captain showed off its agility and speed by outrunning two destroyers, Nicholls recalled.
“It slices through the water very nicely,” McCloud said.
Much like a catamaran, the ship has a double hull, which means a lot of “rocking and rolling,” McCloud noted. “Ocean swells lift one side and drop into the trough on the other side.”
Nobody got seasick, but the anti-nausea pills were on hand. The sailors told them it’s different riding in a double-hulled ship than the more usual single-hulled vessels.
McCloud was fascinated by how the engineer figured out a problem. “He didn’t mind us looking over his shoulder,” McCloud said.
The officials spent nights as crew members do — sleeping in berths stacked closely in threes. During his cruise, Nicholls was in the middle. The tight quarters “is difficult, but you get used to it,” he said.
They also enjoyed the culinary skills of the galley’s chef. One night Nicholls savored steak and lobsters. “The crew was happy,” the mayor noted.
In the morning, he enjoyed an omelet for breakfast.
The Yuma officials also honored a longtime tradition by presenting the captain with mascots. The mayor gave a bobblehead of a Yuma Criminal. Wilkinson looked for something unique and settled on a jackalope, a mythical jackrabbit with antelope horns. He had a taxidermist friend do one for him and then put it in a Plexiglas container. Wilkinson called the airline to make sure he could take it on the plane. Then the day before the flight, he went to the airport to check with TSA agents that it would be allowed on the flight.
The captain had never heard of the mythical creature. “It was a big hit with the crew,” Wilkinson said.
The jackalope was also a big hit with the thousands of high school kids that toured the ship during Fleet Week.
For the first time, the new USNS Yuma was part of the flotilla. When not parading in the waters around New York City, it was tied to the harbor in the Bronx, underneath one of the city’s most iconic bridges and almost right in front of the State University of New York Maritime College, alma mater for both Capt. Gammo and Chief Engineer George Hairston.
“The best part of being on the ship was coming into the harbor,” Wilkinson said.
The ship cruised by the Statue of Liberty, Staten Island and many of New York City’s famous landmarks. The vessel had it’s own assigned “stage” area on the ocean, where it zigzagged along 5 to 7 miles of open waters, dodging other ships.
During the weeklong festivities, the captain treated McCloud and Wilkinson to a Yankees game.
Nicholls presented the captain with a plaque that will be mounted on the ship’s bulkhead, along with a keel laying plaque with the mayor’s carved name, another old-time tradition.
“I’m very grateful to the captain for inviting us,” McCloud said of the whole week’s activities, adding that “it’s a real privilege to have the ship named after the city.”
For Wilkinson, being able to meet and talk with the crew are among his best memories.
“The ship has a really great crew and they have a great work ethic,” Wilkinson said.
Editor’s Note:
You can follow the USNS Yuma on its own Facebook page as it makes the city known around the world.