Whidbey Island Maintains Readiness with Man Overboard Drills

USS WHIDBEY ISLAND, At Sea (NNS) -- U.S. Sailors aboard amphibious dock landing ship USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41) conducted two man overboard drills while underway in the Gulf of Aden Oct. 25-26.

The purpose of the drills was to train the ship's new junior officers on how to successfully navigate the ship as conning officer and officer of the deck (OOD) during an emergency situation.

Unless there is an airborne helicopter asset available to help provide assistance, the most common way of retrieving a man overboard is via a ship or small boat recovery.

"We train like it's the real thing," said Boatswain's Mate 1st Class (SW) Fredrick Patterson, leading petty officer of deck department's 1st division. "The drills help us all to improve on our response time because in a real life situation, timing is everything. It can mean the difference in life or death for someone."

"The bridge acts as the eyes and ears of the ship," said Lt. j.g. Heidi Sandell, Whidbey Island's navigator. "Engineering is the heart of the ship because it keeps the ship moving, and the Combat Information Center (CIC) is the ship's brain because it processes all of the information."

The bridge works closely with CIC, engineering, and deck department during the man overboard drill to gather critical information such as water temperature, wind speed and direction, and the location of the man in the water - factors that determine survivability and influence the amount of time it will take to do the recovery. The OOD evaluates the information to determine the best type of recovery and the conning officer directs the helmsman on how to most effectively position the ship.

The deck department is in constant communication with the bridge throughout the event, and maintains a ready life boat in the event a boat recovery is required. The boat crew consists of an engineer, bow hook, coxswain, boat officer and a search and rescue (SAR) swimmer. The SAR swimmer is the person who physically enters the water and recovers the man overboard.

"The job of a SAR swimmer is the last step in recovering a man overboard," said Electronics Technician 3rd Class James Cross, one of Whidbey Island's SAR swimmers. "It is an important job, but I couldn't do it if it weren't for the coordinated efforts from the entire ship."

The man overboard drills the Whidbey Island completed is just one of the many ways Whidbey Island is staying mission ready while underway in the Gulf of Aden.

Whidbey Island is deployed as part of the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group, supporting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts is the U.S. 5th fleet area of responsibility.

For more news from USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41), visit www.navy.mil/local/lsd41/.