Sailors assigned to Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Vella Gulf (CG 72) at Naval Station Norfolk work towards passing their Light-Off Assessment (LOA) following their Dry-Docking Selected Restricted Availability Period.

LOA is an assessment performed by the Afloat Training Group (ATG) to test if a ship is able to safely light-off -- operate its engineering plant and take the ship to sea.

Seven Sailors stand inches apart from one another while testing two fuel coalescers and the maximum pressure allotted to each piece of equipment. The machine is responsible for filtering the diesel fuel that feeds into any or all three gas turbine engines. However, these engines have not been started in more than 18 months.

"The engineering department on Vella Gulf has especially been working extremely long hours for about the last seven months to conduct repairs and make the engineering plant ready for sea," said Cmdr. Jason K. Wilson, executive officer aboard Vella Gulf. "One could say the engineering department has been working 24/7 over the last seven months."

"The hardest road block has been bringing the engine room back to life," said Lt. Cmdr. Thomas K. Brewer, chief engineer aboard Vella Gulf. "We've been in the yards for over a year and a half, so starting the equipment for the first time that hasn't been running in that amount of time is a lot of work."

For instance, the gas turbine engines require a lot of maintenance prior to attempting to start them, said Brewer. Sailors tend to find some degraded components that need to be repaired and then replaced.

"When I got here everything was in lay-up, covered in plastic," said Gas Turbine Systems Technician (Electrical) 3rd Class Tanner M. Helms, from Mount Holly, North Carolina assigned to the electronics material department aboard Vella Gulf. "All of the pumps, engines and generators were unwrapped and brought back."

It's a fast-paced environment and a lot of electrical information, said Helms. Every week there is maintenance done on the material ensuring everything is working properly and functioning the way it should.

For example, the Propulsion Local Control Console, which communicates with the Free Standing Electronic Enclosure (FSEE), is the part of the ship that will automatically slow down the engine if it is running too fast.

"There are sensors that send the information back to the FSEE, and tell it to shut down, so it doesn't harm the engine or the reduction gear itself," said Helms.

If these systems were not tested during LOA, it could lead to potential issues and malfunctions out at sea.

"We're making great progress," said Brewer. "The end is in sight of getting underway, and the crew has put in long and hard hours to get the ship ready."

An estimate puts roughly 70 Sailors in engineering, working an additional 20,000 hours over the last six weeks on top of normal working hours, said Brewer.

Vella Gulf is slated to deploy early next year to support the maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations.



For more news from Navy Public Affairs Support Element, visit www.navy.mil/.