Missouri (BB 63) - Naval Cruise Book

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As the new teak wood decks were ground down level on the deck outside under a protective canvas cover, fire was being reintroduced inside one of the ship s firerooms. BTC Steve Cox is the safety observer as BT ' 2 Mike Carpmail handles the torch for lighting No. 8 boiler for the first time in more than 30 years.

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Using a heavyweight crane, one of the six twin-mount five-inch guns is lifted effortlessly for placement on the battleship concealed by tiers of scaffolding. Another signing on USS Missouri, at left, Capt. G. E. Fink, Long Beach Naval Shipyard, signs the Surrender Plaque custody sheet as Capt. A.L. Kaiss, Prospective Commanding Officer, awaits his turn. Battleship Reactivation A Two Year Transformation The rebirth of USS Missouri (BB 63) be- gan when the policy of the United States said that there will be a 600 ship Navy. To do that required an in- crease in our fleet with ships of strength which still re- mained within the realm of cost effectiveness in a high priced world of modern tech- nology. Alternatives, such as marrying the best of ship construction technology with the best of the new, electronic technology were studied. So began the battle- ship reactivation and pro- gram of modernization. For years, the U.S. had laid up Navy ships in a mothball status. Each ship carefully preserved and pro- tected from the weather, so that if called back into ac- tion, the ship would sail forth as strong as ever. Such was the fate for the super dreadnoughts of the Iowa class. First to be brought back into commission, as part of the battleship program, was USS New Jersey (BB 62), then USS Iowa (BB 61). Then it was time for bring- ing back the most historic of America ' s battleships. USS Missouri was towed from Bremerton, Washing- ton, to the Naval Shipyard in Long Beach. On arrival, the work began to bring the Mighty Mo to within the standards necessary for the battleship to operate through the 1990s and be- yond. Some $475 million was al- located to modernize and re- activate the ship into a for- midable platform. For the money invested in the battleship, the Navy could have built a frigate. In- stead, the battleship can op- erate as the center piece of a Battleship Battle Group and at times, relieve our Carrier Battle Groups. It took two years to bring the Mighty Mo back to a state of readiness. And the careful planning has now been fulfilled.

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Sea Trial, Crew Certification The Chief of Naval Operations re- quired the Commander Naval Sur- face Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, to con- duct a crew certification to evaluate USS Missouri ' s crewmembers training prior to going to sea. This certification was done in two visits by a team from COMNAV- SURFPAC consisting of experts for each area to be evaluated. Four areas were exam- ined: Propulsion, Navigation, Ship Control and Damage Control. The first visit, on October 28-29, 1985, dealt primarily with the level of crew train- ing. This was done to make sure each crew- member, from the Commanding Officer to the most junior Seaman, received all the required Precommissioning training. In- cluded in the visit was an evaluation of training received from Fleet Training Cen- ter, San Diego, and an overall review of the ship ' s training plan and divisional training records. Items of particular interest were PQS, training records, and watchstander qualifications. At the end of this visit, dis- crepancies were noted and corrected prior to the second visit. The final certification visit, on January 21-23, 1986, consisted of an onboard evalua- tion of each watchstander ' s ability as ob- served during a simulated underway Fast Cruise environment. The objective of the Fast Cruise was to provide USS Missouri crewmembers an opportunity to demon- strate their ability to safely take the ship to sea. This visit included a recheck of the areas of Navigation, Ship Control, Propul- sion and Damage Control including emer- gency drills and engineering drills. Certification of a unit ready for sea is ac- complished through verification of training, inspections, and drills. The hard work of the crewmembers, the extra hours put in by all hands, the inspections and drills, staying alert for safety hazards, all paid off when the certification team said, Well Done, the Ship is Ready for Sea. USS Missouri is underway using her own power for the first time in 30 years on February 28, 1986. At right, 0S3 Bob Harkins receives assis- tance from Capt. A.L. Kaiss, Prospective Commanding Officer, in wearing the inflatable life preserver during a sea trial crew certifica- tion exercise.