For a seafaring force like the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3), few things are more important to the crew and their mission than fresh water. When the ship's ability to create fresh water is crippled, it takes the entire crew to bring that force back to mission readiness.

Before embarking on the current humanitarian assistance and disaster relief mission, one of the ship's two evaporation distilling units malfunctioned, cutting freshwater production capabilities in half.

According to Lt. j.g. Jens Howlett, the Kearsarge's repair officer, the effects were felt throughout the ship.

"We had to cut back on laundry, showers, drinking water, and a lot of other things," said Howlett. "It hurts the ship too, because there is less water for the boilers."

With the possibility of nearly 500 displaced persons boarding the ship after hurricanes Harvey and Irma, the crew jumped in to action to ensure water production was restored to 100 percent.

"The pump has a shaft that runs through it," said Machinery Repairman 2nd class Brandon Weddle, one of the Sailors who helped repair the pump, "so we took a cylindrical piece of metal, put it in a lathe and turned out a brand new shaft."

Weddle was not alone in getting water production back on track for Kearsarge.

"The whole shop assisted; the whole shop played a part in the repair," said Weddle.

While they were crafting and installing the replacement part, ship's company made cutbacks that kept fresh water at a sustainable level.

"We asked the crew to take one shower a day three minutes or less and to turn off water while shaving or brushing their teeth," said Capt. Jason Rimmer, Kearsarge's executive officer. "We watched the water levels very closely to determine if we needed to switch to paper plates in the galley to save water from the scullery, but even on one evaporator, we did quite well, better than I had hoped for, actually."

Both evaporators are now working at full capacity, producing nearly 200,000 gallons of fresh water every day.

"Now that we have excess water and portable containers to put it in, we could be tasked with bringing fresh water ashore," Rimmer said.

With both evaporators now pulling their weight, Kearsarge is ready to meet that task and provide humanitarian assistance and disaster relief wherever it is needed.

For more news from USS Kearsarge (LHD 3), visit http://www.navy.mil/local/lhd3/.



For more information, visit http://www.navy.mil, http://www.facebook.com/usnavy, or http://www.twitter.com/usnavy.


For more news from USS Kearsarge (LHD 3), visit www.navy.mil/.