Seven Sailors celebrated their entry into the chief’s mess as they donned their anchors as the newest chief petty officers aboard the Arleigh-Burke class guided-missile destroyer USS James E. Williams (DDG 95), Sept. 14.

The selectees concluded a six-week training period known as initiation and assumed their new rank underway during a Surface Warfare Advanced Tactical Training (SWATT) exercise with other U.S. Navy warships.

Initiation is designed to enhance leadership ability and provide an understanding of what it means to be a chief petty officer.  During the training period, a portion of the chief’s mess visited the ship’s namesake’s family and hometown in honor of his contribution to the mess.

Newly pinned Chief Cryptologic Technician (Collection) Jeremiah McLean shared the lessons learned from visiting the namesake’s hometown.

“We had many discussions with Mike Williams, and Medal of Honor Recipients’ Walter Marm and Robert Patterson that we were able to bring back and use as teaching points for our newly selected chief petty officers,” said McLean.

The ceremony included words of encouragement from James E. Williams’ Command Master Chief William Worthen and shared how a chief impacted him as a junior Sailor.

“Over the last 126 years, the Navy has had chiefs who have been the experts, the fixer and the go-to person to ensure each and every task was done,” said Worthen. “When Sailors look back at their time serving our nation they always remember their first chief. My first chief, Chief Operation Specialist August Green, showed me what kind of chief I wanted to be.”

Fellow members of the chief’s mess pinned anchors and placed the khaki combination cover onto the newly appointed chiefs during the ceremony.

Chief Electrician’s Mate Adam Melton, one of James E. Williams’ newly appointed chief petty officers, described his sentiment after achieving this career milestone.

 “To me, becoming a chief gives me the opportunity to training junior Sailors on another level and to give back to the ones before me who helped make me who I am today,” said Melton. “The mess opens a door of possibilities to further my leadership skills and to help my fellow Sailors.”

Get more information about the Navy from US Navy facebook or twitter.

For more news from USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), visit www.navy.mil/.