Sea of Japan - Part 3

During the underway we got to see an UNREP (Underway Replenishment).

We took on food, aviation fuel, and other stuff.

Some goods were brought over by helicopter.

Finally, we had to COD off of the Ship immediately or we would be too far away from Okinawa and would have to stay onboard until Singapore. So, off we went after have a nice reception group meeting with the Commanding Officer to include ice water and pastries. That ice water was nice!

So, we caught the next COD flight and off we went.

Arriving at Kadena Air Force Base on Okinawa.

I did not get too many photographs on Okinawa. We were there for 3 - 4 days, but stayed mostly on base for various reasons that I will not get into here. Still, here are the Shiisa.

Shiisa are normally presented in pairs. The one on the left has a closed mouth to keep the good spirits in.

The one on the right has an open mouth to chase away the evil spirits. This is the guardian.

These Shiisa are on guard at the main gate into Kadena AFB.

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Sea of Japan - Part 2

I had too many photographs for a single post, so here are some more. These are more about the ship than the aircraft. It is hard to choose which photos to include, I have many that are of interest but I just cannot post them all.

Anyway, my accommodations were good. I was assigned to a two-man stateroom. Ahhhh, the privileges of a little seniority.

My bunk was the one on the top.

Cool things on the Ship include the enormous anchor, which we cannot see because of its location, and the anchor windlass that raises and lowers the anchor. Also cool is the enormous chain

...and the chain covers, decorated with the American and Japanese flags.

We took our meals in Wardroom 3

...with the officers. The junior enlisted mess decks are not quite so nice, although we ate exactly the same food.

While we were in the Republic of Korea (South Korea) we had many visitors from Busan. These included military and political VIPs (including extremely senior people) as well as local citizens. Everyone seemed to have a good time and enjoyed their visits. Hundreds of smiling faces were everywhere.

During the port call the hangar deck was decorated with the 13 starred flag.

It normally looks more like this...

As I have mentioned elsewhere, we were there during the military exercises that took place in the Sea of Japan (that irritated Kim Jong Il so much).

In this picture, the ship in front (to my left) is of the ROK Navy and the one behind (to my right) is of the U.S. Navy.

That's all for now. I will do one more Sea of Japan post to include some pictures in Okinawa.

じゃあね

Sea of Japan - Part 1

The Wandering Gaijin returned home to the USA in the middle of May and was just getting settled into a new, temporary assignment when the order came - Go to the USS George Washington at sea and help fix her. The sea was the Sea of Japan. What we were fixing I will not say.

This is what makes working for the US Navy an adventure. After arriving in Yokosuka and reporting to the PSNS Detachment I settled into my hotel room at the Mercure and went to visit the fabulous Shie at Sakato-ya. The next day at lunch I got into a van and was taken to Atsugi Naval Air Station. After waiting around for a couple of hours I was placed aboard a Grumman C-2 Greyhound and flown out to the Ship. This is called a COD - Carrier Onboard Delivery.

This is how we landed;

The idea is that, using a tailhook installed under the aircraft, we catch one of those wires on the deck to stop the plane. If we fail to do that, we will not stop in time. So, we hit the deck at full power so that we can continue off in case we miss a wire. There is no surviving going into the water off of the end of the flight deck in front of the Ship.

We got off in a similar manner. The aircraft is attached to a catapult and it launched off of the flight deck, reaching flight speed in approx. 2 second. This is an intense experience.

It is very loud on the flight deck. This next picture is of me on Vulture's Row on the 09 level. The flight deck is the 04 level, so I am 5 stories above the flight deck. Double hearing protection is required. That is the Navigation Bridge behind me. That is where they drive the Ship.

BTW: The water here is the most beautiful blue sea water I have ever seen. I was all that I could do to prevent myself from diving into it to escape the heat and humidity.

USS George Washington carries four flavors of F-18, EA-6B's, E-2C's, and helicopters. For details, read about Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5. This command includes VRC-30 - the outfit that owns the previously mentioned C-2A Greyhound that flew us out to the Ship.

An EA-6B launch;

And two recoveries, an F-18 and an EA-6B, shot from the 010 level.

No other nation of the planet can do these things. I count it as a huge privilege to have been able to record these.

That's all for now. Part two is coming.

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