For the Graper Good: Carl Vinson Pumps the Air Wing's Life Blood

USS CARL VINSON, At Sea (NNS) -- Sailors aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) completed their first replenishment-at-sea (RAS) in more than nine months Feb. 12 while the ship was underway conducting carrier qualifications.

Two million gallons of JP-5 aviation fuel were pumped across the 200-foot churning gap separating Carl Vinson and the fleet replenishment oiler USNS Henry J. Kaiser (T-AO 187), replenishing its stores, facilitating flight operations and ultimately allowing Carl Vinson the opportunity to complete carrier qualifications.

"Two million gallons is the most we've taken on since I've been here," said Aviation Boatswain's Mate (Fuel) 1st Class (AW/SW) Justin L. Yingling, air department V-4 division's below decks leading petty officer and underway replenishment (UNREP) coordinator who has been aboard Carl Vinson four years. "It went smoothly, though. It was a very safe evolution."

Though any RAS involves numerous departments from throughout the ship, air department's V-4 division is solely responsible for the safe and equal dissemination of oncoming fuel to the storage tanks located below decks.

"The two million gallons pumped aboard went into 125 tanks," said Chief Aviation Boatswain's Mate (Fuel) Sean T. Roberts, air department V-4 division's below decks leading chief petty officer. "Yingling coordinated everything all over the ship to bring on the fuel safely and as quickly as possible."

In order to bring about the safe and efficient transfer of fuel, Yingling, from fuels control, and operators on the Kaiser coordinated the proper pumping pressure from Carl Vinson's three double probe receiver refueling stations.

"We started out at the minimum pressure that they can give us," said Aviation Boatswain's Mate (Fuel) 3rd Class (AW) Jesse Malm, air department V-4 division pump room 2 console operator. "As soon as we knew all the sponsons were good and the probes were all seated, then we increased the psi (pounds-per-square inch) gradually. We increased from 40 psi to 60, from 60 to 80, 100, and then to the maximum, which is 120 psi."

From the receiving stations oncoming JP-5 ties into the transfer main, a 12-inch pipe that runs the length of the ship from bow to stern. It disseminates the fuel down to the seventh deck and throughout the ship, which allows V-4 division to distribute fuel in both forward and aft tanks at the same time.

"We had fuel going down into the cargo tanks. We had fuel going back aft and fuel going forward simultaneously," Yingling said. "We have a certain amount of tanks open at one time and I have to monitor all of them to make sure they are getting the correct levels."

Assisting Yingling to direct the fuel throughout the ship, JP-5 fuel pump room 2 and JP-5 fuel pump room 3 consul operators monitored the forward and aft tanks, respectively, during the RAS.

"While Yingling was monitoring every tank, he had eyes and ears in the pump rooms feeding him information, keeping him abreast of the situation in order to assist him with a clearer, more efficient picture," said Aviation Boatswain's Mate (Fuel) 2nd Class (AW) Alex Rivera III, air department V-4 division's pump room 3 console operator.

Each console operator has a screen that illustrates each tank in their area of responsibility. The operators use these screens to continuously brief fuels control and to open and close the storage tanks in order to direct oncoming fuel.

"I let fuels control know what tank I was going to be opening next," Rivera said. "Once a tank closed, I opened up the next tank available and notified fuels control, always leaving 10 tanks open at a time."
Like every other operation stores onload, refueling-at-sea operations must keep ballast in mind in order to keep the ship and the flight deck as level as possible.
"We can't go too heavy on either side, so we watched our weight on port and starboard to keep them even," said Malm.

"Each tank has what we call a 'sister tank', so there will be one tank on the starboard side and its opposite on the port side," Yingling explained. "That's how we create our tank system. We go back and forth as we refuel to keep everything balanced."

Yingling, Malm and Rivera acted as a control measure throughout the refueling and ensured nothing was overlooked.

"We oversee the tanks, but ABF1 Yingling is there to make sure everything is correct," Malm said. "There are a lot of tanks. I could miss something and Yingling will pick up on it; that's what he's there for."

"Fuels control and the console operators are constantly communicating during a RAS," Yingling said. "Rivera and Malm make our job easier because, when it comes to monitoring for Chief Roberts and I, they tell us exactly what's going on down in the pump rooms - what tanks are open, what tanks are about to close and what tanks are going to be opened next. Having those senior guys down there makes our job on the upper chain so much easier."

It was the abundance of knowledge and experience brought by everyone involved to the evolution that enabled such a safe and expedient result, Yingling said. "Despite a long break between UNREPs, and this being the largest transfer I've seen since coming aboard Carl Vinson, from the top all the way to the bottom, everyone did outstanding."

For more news from USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), visit www.navy.mil/local/cvn70/.