Countless doors around the ship are used day in and day out, opened and closed hundreds of times, and they gain a significant amount of wear and tear over time. A group of Sailors attached to the door team aboard USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) (Ike) know first-hand how important the doors are to the ship's integrity. The team is slowly, but surely, bringing these doors back to life.

"The door team is removing doors for sand blasting and powder-coating and reinstalling," said Damage Controlman 2nd Class Logan Morris, the door team work center supervisor. "Door team is important during this planned incremental availability (PIA) because we are preserving the integrity of damage control material conditions. Every fitting we take off is a material conditions fitting that is designed to keep the ship air and/or water tight."

This small team of six to eight Sailors work around the clock to remove four doors a week and re-install four doors in various spaces. With recent tragedies such as collisions involving USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) and USS John S. McCain (DDG 56), the need for damage control material readiness has been brought to the forefront and Ike Sailors are working to keep the ship ready to fight during its stay at Norfolk Naval Shipyards in Portsmouth, Virginia.

"These doors are designed to save lives and keep the integrity of the ship secure," added Morris. "The doors prevent fire, flooding and toxic gas from spreading throughout the entire ship. The door team ensures that the doors fit right, are not corroded and operate correctly."

The door team is tackling a significant number of doors during the PIA, but cannot perform all of the maintenance the doors need. Some of the 193 doors that have a work order put in will have to be taken off ship to be properly repaired.

"We break down into two or three teams and go out to take a door off and send it to Light Industrial Facility (LIFAC) division to get sand blasted and powder coated," said door team member Master-at-Arms 3rd Class Taylor Yingling. "When we go out there to take a door down we keep everything separated to know what part came from what door, so we know we can put it together correctly again."

Door maintenance keeps ship operations movingly smoothly and is essential to Ike's overall mission, and it's something in which every Sailor must take part.

"The door team is basic damage control," Yingling said. "You never know when you are going to need something to work properly, and being on the door team, I can do my part to ensure the doors are working."

Ike is preparing for a Planning Incremental Availability (PIA) at Norfolk Naval Shipyard during the maintenance phase of the Optimized Fleet Response Plan (OFRP).

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