Bunker Hill (CG 52) - Naval Cruise Book

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» crew couldn ' t live on cW traileri. The racks :oiiifortablellian m ii ere the ship ' s urtbejjn to spread. At Djiing and the ■■• ' Cfoup. M had , „ , ' ,ji named, ;i(;Kaiaiia«ie;thelwo Mi and CSS VALIEY ■-ffl i deployment, zed San Pedro with a %;! W ' ►X-:

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Post Commissioning Avaiiabiiity After seven months of testing, training, missile shoots, and more testing and training, BUNKER HILL was ready for a Post Commissioning Availability. Soon after CSSQT, BUNKER HILL transited to Todd Shipyards in San Pedro, Calif., near Long Beach. The ship was raised from the water and rolled over a rail system to her new home for the next two-plus months — high and dry. Yard workers and contractors began the long and complex job of going through nearly every system on board. PSA is, basically, a warranty period. After shaking down the ship for the first seven months of her life, all the Bugs had been found, and the Navy had a large number of alterations to be done. Everything was torn apart; the beautiful ship began to look more like a huge hunk of metal rather than a sleek, modern AEGIS cruiser. For the crew, PSA was an opportunity to get in more training and schools, and a break from the rigors of sea. Work days were long, from 0600 to 1800. To compensate, the command established duty weekends and modified work hours on Fridays and Mondays. One duty section stood the watches from Friday morning to noon Monday; almost everyone else was off from noon Friday to noon Monday. Everyone still put in more than 40 hours a week, but the long weekends were greatly appreciated. With all the work going on throughout the ship, the crew couldn ' t live on board. Instead, everyone moved into shipyard-supplied trailers. The racks were still three-high, but much wider and generally more comfortable than those on the ship. The galley too was set up in a trailer, as were the ship ' s office and other activities. It was during PSA that the first rumors of deployment began to spread. At first there were only rumors; the USS MISSOURI was deploying and the Navy wanted to include an AEGIS cruiser in the Battleship Battle Group. Toward the end of PSA, a newspaper article confirmed that the Navy had decided to send an AEGIS cruiser with the MISSOURI. No ship was named, but everyone knew that only the BUNKER HILL would be available; the two other West Coast AEGIS cruisers - USS VINCENNES and USS VALLEY FORGE — were either deployed or just returned from a deployment. So, one day late in June 1987, BUNKER HILL departed San Pedro with a scant month to prepare for the maiden voyage.

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♦ M a Sa- id Preparing to deploy With only five weeks ' notice to deploy, the crew had a lot to accomplish in a short time. BUNKER HILL had never worked with another ship, much less a battle group, so the crew had to train in battle group operations. Missiles and other ordnance had to be loaded. And, as always, there was training at general quarters, preparing for any contingency.