By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Phil Beaufort, USS Kearsarge Public Affairs
NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- Amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) moved from Number 8 Dry Dock to her new berth pier-side at Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) in Portsmouth, Va., Sept. 11.
Kearsarge has been in dry dock since January 2009, conducting a 10-month Depot Planned Maintenance Availability (DPMA) will remain at NNSY for a two more months of work prior to returning to Naval Station Norfolk.
"Getting the ship out of dry dock and floating again is a major milestone," said Lt. Cmdr. Michael E. Reed, Kearsarge navigator. "The crew is ready to leave the shipyard and do what they do best: go to sea."
While most of the major repairs and upgrades are completed or installed, the crew still has a lot of work to do before they can get underway and start training for their next deployment.
"Even before we moved out of dry dock we had to flood the dock half way, without floating the ship, and spent two days testing a number of engineering systems," said Kearsarge Senior Sailor of the Year, Machinist's Mate 1st Class Michael Newcom. "If any of the new systems we've installed required rework, or we had leaks, we would have drained the dock without having to spend a day setting the ship back on blocks. Thankfully, we didn't have to do that."
Even though many of the crew had never seen this evolution before, Craig Bailey, NNSY Dock Master, said the crew of Kearsarge took the move in stride.
"I've worked at this shipyard for 33 years, so this isn't my first evolution," said Bailey. "We're very lucky that some of the crew has been through this before, but even the Sailors who've never seen this were willing to work with us and learn from our experience."
Reed pointed out that while it may seem very simple to let water into the dry dock and bring the ship up, there are many preparatory steps that go into the evolution to ensure the safety of the crew and preservation of the ship.
"Most people don't realize how much work goes into bring a ship out of dry dock," said Reed. "If the ship wasn't balanced correctly while we were flooding the dock, the ship could have listed in either direction and crushed the hull on the blocks. But everyone pulled together and safely and successfully floated the ship."
Over the next several months the crew will continue to test systems and prepare the ship for operational service at sea.