Sailors from the Hawaii Regional Maintenance Center (HRMC) were among those recently recognized by the Commander, Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific (MIDPAC)’s for their support of the 2019 Surface Ship Self-Sufficiency Symposium in Pearl Harbor.

This event focused on exposing shipboard Sailors to the various maintenance support programs such as the Navy Afloat Maintenance Training Strategy (NAMTS), Ship Organic Repair Capability Assist Team (SORCAT), and the Maintenance Assist Team (MAT), all of which were developed with the goal of enhancing ship self-sufficiency and material readiness.

“The Pearl Harbor waterfront greatly benefitted from your expertise, availability, and instruction. Your efforts and time ensured that our ships have the knowledge, tools, and talent to increase readiness and maintain the ability to fight tonight,” said Capt. Joseph Naman, MIDPAC’s chief of staff, in a naval message of appreciation dated Aug. 29, 2019. “I appreciate your support and efforts to make this event successful and maintain warfighting readiness.”

Among those acknowledged were Lance Coverdill from HRMC MAT program; Edwin Yamashiro and Master Chief Machinist's Mate Ben Ludwig from the HRMC NAMTS program; and Gabriella Quinones from the SORCAT program.

Through NAMTS, SORCAT, MAT, and other training and readiness programs such as the Corrosion Control Assist Team (CCAT) and Corrosion Control Program Manager (CCPM) training provided by the Type Commander, the Navy continues its commitment to improving Sailors’ preventive and corrective maintenance skills and their ability to support sustained operations.

“The purpose of the MAT program is to bring RMC Sailors and civilian subject matter experts together in a ‘shop-to-ship’ training and repair effort to focus on targeted, high-failure equipment,” said CNRMC Intermediate-Level (I-Level) Production Manager, Daniel Spagone.

“The goal is to teach RMC and shipboard Sailors to properly conduct Planned Maintenance System (PMS) requirements and execute the corrective maintenance directed by the PMS program, all in an effort to help Sailors better understand their roles as owners and operators while underway.”

NAMTS is another RMC-based program designed to provide Sailors with professional development opportunities. Sailors enter as apprentices and graduate as journeyman in one (or more) of the 21 trade disciplines available for them across the RMCs, including Hull, Mechanical, Electrical (HM&E) and Combat Systems programs. According to Spagone, the program builds on Sailors’ existing skills and provides them the opportunity to develop new skills through hands-on production work that will enable them to become technical experts needed to serve in the Navy of the future.

Through the SORCAT program, teams of RMC Sailors and civilians conduct onboard assessments of ships to determine which equipment needs to be repaired, installed, or removed; identify shortfalls in materials and Sailor training; and provide a report to the commanding officers of the ships. In addition, the team assists in installing and repairing equipment, while training Sailors to operate equipment properly.

“This is all done with the goal of building and maintaining an organic repair capability to support Sailor self-sufficiency at sea,” said Spagone.

CNRMC is a NAVSEA field activity and oversees the operations of Regional Maintenance Centers in their execution of surface ship maintenance and modernization.

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