
DATE: Wednesday, October 29, 1997           TAG: 9710250639

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A17  EDITION: FINAL 

SERIES: FUTURE OF THE FLEET

SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  105 lines

GETTING SMART ABOUT DUTY

Few men and women join the Navy expecting a life of easy duty and short, shoreside working hours.

But when sailors are home and their ships are pierside, they want time to themselves, time to see their families.

Problem is, Navy ships traditionally have maintained a four-section duty rotation in port, meaning that every four days one-fourth of the crew must remain aboard for 24 hours to guard against fire, flooding or any other unplanned event.

And that means that every month, two and sometimes three weekends are shot: ``You had the duty,'' said Command Master Chief Kevin J. Lavin, the senior enlisted man aboard the carrier George Washington. ``Even when we were in port, the sailor could not go away with his family on a weekend unless he took leave.''

``The guys were standing an awful lot of watches,'' recalled Cmdr. Ronald C. Raymer, the senior watch officer and navigator of the Norfolk-based G.W.

``I heard a lot of grumbling.''

So last year Lavin and Raymer began rethinking the ship's schedule so that crew members would have more time at home.

They requested the G.W.'s leadership to let them experiment with a five-section duty rotation, which would require sailors to stay aboard only once every five days.

If it worked, it promised to vastly improve life for the crew, for the duty affects not only watch nights but the days before and after them. Standing watch is an addition to a sailor's regular duties: A blue shirt pulling duty works his regular workday from 6:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., stays aboard all night, then works his normal shift the next day.

When the G.W. prepared to enter the Norfolk Naval Shipyard for a six-month overhaul, the brass agreed to give the proposal a try.

All went smoothly. It wasn't long, in fact, before Raymer and Lavin concluded that they could do better, and formed a team to study what would happen if the ship went to a six-section rotation.

``There really were very minor changes as to the way we do business,'' Raymer said. ``The big issues were the amount of work being done aboard ship. Are there enough people aboard to do that?

``So we went to six-section duty and in the process I called up a number of ships. Several ships on the East Coast were in six sections. I called some of the West Coast ships and found they were in seven-section duty.

``I called master chief and he said, `Why do we have to stop at six?' ''

Lavin had been aboard the cruiser Yorktown, the Navy's experimental ``Smart Ship,'' with a crew had tried an eight-section rotation and is mulling a 10-section schedule.

The men decided to find out what would be required to expand to eight on the G.W., knowing that no carrier had ever tried it. Dividing the work, they figured, wouldn't be a problem: The flattop's crew numbered 2,800 enlisted sailors and 150 officers.

With fewer people on duty, Lavin and Raymer put around-the-clock watchstanders on only those stations that truly required their presence, and rejiggered the duties of leftover sailors to better safeguard the ship.

They also suggested a modification in the length of the overnight hours, switching the G.W. from single four-hour watches to two, three-hour watches a day. And four people now stood a watch, rather than the traditional six.

``We didn't cut requirements, but we looked at what the real requirement was and manned to that, rather than having people here for sake of having them here,'' Raymer said.

A happy byproduct was that the new watches entrusted junior sailors with greater responsibility. ``Now, in an eight-section duty rotation these guys may be the senior ones aboard,'' Raymer observed. ``All of a sudden, they are in charge of the navigation department. All of a sudden they have a lot more responsibility. They really enjoy the added responsibility.''

The results have been ``absolutely, extremely positive,'' Lavin said. ``Especially from the wives. They absolutely love it.''

Instead of spending only a weekend or two at home each month, crew members have been able to go six weekends in a row without duty.

The ship's safety was a major concern, Lavin said. He and Raymer studied the smaller watch's ability to handle a fire, major flooding, and other disasters.

But by teaming with the fire department and security details at the Norfolk Naval Station, the G.W. was able to keep the eight-section rotation until Oct. 3, when it left Norfolk for a six-month deployment to the Mediterranean Sea.

And the idea is catching on. The carrier Theodore Roosevelt went to an eight-section rotation Aug. 1, and the carrier John C. Stennis was to make the switch too.

``It is is something we needed to do,'' Lavin said, ``because of the amount of time we spend under way now. We just can't retain quality people if we keep them at sea and take them back to port and still keep them aboard.''

``We are not drafting them anymore,'' Raymer agreed. ``If they don't like it, they will leave. So we have to be a lot smarter about the way we run people.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos

BILL TIERNAN/The Virginian-Pilot

Sailors on the carrier George Washington have been experimenting

with a new duty watch rotation that gives individuals more time off

between watches and more responsibility at their stations.

Command Master Chief Kevin J. Lavin...

Graphic

JOHN EARLE/The Virginian-Pilot

TWO YEARS IN THE LIFE OF THE GEORGE WASHINGTON

SOURCE: U.S. Navy

[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]