Bowen (FF 1079) - Naval Cruise Book

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Clockwise, from above: 1 ) Mark and Richard Robbins, Jr.. sons of BOW- EMS Commanding Officer, await the ships return from the Mediter- ranean with a clown who provided entertainment for the crowd; 2) Ra- quel and Maya Millin. daughters of rC2 Murillo Millin. shortly before being reunited with their father.- 3) family and friends wait to board the ship; 4) the brow is crowded as BOWen family members hurry to- ward the flight deck; 5) as the ship departs for the Mediterranean on June 6, 1987. the Cooper River Bridge begins to fade in the ship s wake; 6) many family members and others made signs to welcome home their BOWEM sailor; 7) line- handlers on the fantail watch silent- ly as the ship leav es its Charleston pier. 46 Bowenlife

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MLg Br y flSfS V Moving a Monster t a weight of just over J 1100 pounds, moving . m.a fire pump motor can beachallengingjob. Particu- larly if the motor doesn ' t co- operate. BOWEN ' S engineering plant includes four fire pumps, one in each main en- gineering space, which sup- ply firefighting water to the ship at 900 gallons per min- ute. On occasion, the four foot tall motor must be re- moved from its foundation for repair. At times like those, the boiler technicians (or ma- chinist mates) break out the chain falls. Maneuvering the huge electric motor, the largest in the engineering plant, is no easy task, normally, four technicians require five or six hours just to lower the pump from its foundation to the deckplates — a vertical distance of just a few feet. ' You can ' t just swing it over, said BTC (SW) Rickey Dawson. Ain ' t nobody gon- na catch it. if th e problem is relatively simple, repairs may be com- pleted by ship ' s force on the deckplates. If more complex repairs are required, the mo- tor may have to be removed from the ship to a shore based facility. In that case, ladders and other interfer- ences must be removed throughout the ship in order to move the motor to the main deck and then onto the pier. When repairs are complet- ed, the whole process is re- peated in reverse. After the motor has been returned to its foundation, it must be carefully aligned to the pump — a process that in it- self can take as long as 12-14 hours. This page, top to bottom: BT3 Brown and BT3 Hodges maneuver the fire pump motor into position on its foundation; BT3 David Mill- saps attempts to remove the chain- fall from the fire pump after it has been lowered onto the foundation; BTl Dick Moravec aligns the elec- tric motor to the pump. Bowenlife 45

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Med cruise ends where it began Charleston It ended nearly six months after it had be- gun. On riovember 17, 1987, the men of USS BOW- ED returned to the piers of Charleston naval Base — the same piers they had left on June 6, 1987 for a Medi- terranean deployment. The only feeling that comes close to it is the feel- ing when you ' re a small boy right before Christmas, CDR Richard Robbins, Com- manding Officer of USS BOWEN, told local television Crew members assembled on the flight deck, top left, man the rails as the ship pulls away from the pier in Charleston on day one of the cruise; ICl Jim Monday, left, hugs his wife for the first time in nearly six months; below, from left to right, Margery noble, mother in law of CDR Robbins, Vicki Robbins, wife of the Commanding Officer, Mary Kay Allen, wife of LCDR Allen, Gail Reed, wife of QMCM(SW) Reed, Julie Kowalski, wife of BTl Kowal- ski, and Becky Tuttle, wife of SKI Tuttle, pose for a group photo- graph while awaiting the ships re- turn to Charleston Maval Base fol- lowing the six month deployment. and newspaper reporters in describing the return home The reporters had embarked on the ship near the en trance to the Cooper River in order to record the crew ' s re turn to Charleston. As part of the USS SARA TOGA battle group, BOWEn participated in training exer- cises in the western Mediter ranean, operated with war- ships from Spain and Egypt and participated in a large riATO exercise called Dis play Determination ' 87. I think our allies appreci ate our role in the world now more than they did five years ago, CDR Robbins said in discussing battle group op- erations with the reporters. As BOWEN approached the dock, the atmosphere was different from when the ship departed in June. Hun- dreds of friends and family members cheered, waved and flashed placards bear- ing greetings to sailors they had not seen for over five months. Bowenlife 47