Epperson (DDE 719) - Naval Cruise Book

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Navymen of many varied skills compose EPPERSON's Operations Department. Their jobs range from collecting and disseminating information to sending and receiving messages. It is impossible to describe the entire function of this department in a few simple sentences. The best way is to analyze the tasks of each of the divisions, thereby giving a brief insight into the functions of Operations Department as a whole. OC Division personnel are primarily responsible for the ship's communications. This group includes radiomen and members of the signal bridge gang. Radiomen handle literally thousands of messages during the course of a deployment. They must ensure that each and every message pertinent to the ship is accounted for and is routed to whomever it may concern. The radio personnel are equally responsible for the rapid and precise handling of EPPE's out-going message traffic. ln addition, they are accountable for setting up and maintaining the many radio circuits utilized by our ship in communicating with other members of the fleet. Signalmen, too, have a great responsibility in handling message traffic. Whereas the radiomen use high powered electronic gear, members of EPPE's signal gang communicate by use of flashing light, semiphore, and signal flags. To many, it looks like a great job when we see the signalmen sitting high up on the signal bridge basking in the sun's warm rays. What we quite often fail to realize is that even in the pouring rain the signalmen are on duty, standing alert to ensure that the message traffic goes th rough. To add further to the diversification of OC Division, the division is rounded out by postal clerks, hospital corpsmen, and ship's office personnel. The postal clerks are employed in the one job which has the biggest effect on shipboard morale, Mail comes to the ship at almost any time of the day lgenerally when it is least expectedl and by a wide variety of methods. On Yankee station, we receive mail by means of helicopter from the large carriers, which fly in mail almost daily from DaNang or Subic Bay. At other times, mail arrives at sea when we are alongside oilers, ammunition or refrigeration ships. The postal clerks are always ready to move the mail swiftly and efficiently as they realize the importance of helping to keep EPPERSON personnel, who are thousands of miles away from home, in the highest possible state of morale. The men in ship's office also deserve recognition for the highly efficient job they did in handling the mountains of paperwork that were passed through their hands during the cruise. The personnelmen and yeomen have charge of all of the service records of shipboard personnel, as well as attending to all of the ship's administrative paperwork and communications. Located next door to ship's office is sick bay, home address of our hospital corpsmen, who stand ever ready with shots, pills and saltines to keep us physically fit at all times. Throughout the deployment, the medics treated innumerable cases of shipboard sickness and injury, ranging from emergency lacerations to routine sickness. The other portion of Operations Department is MOI Division consisting of Electronics Technicians and Radarmen. The ET's are men who have become accustomed to reacting to emergency situations and could be referred to as Hemergencyn technicians. As long as radars, radio transmitters, and other high powered electronics gear is operating smoothly, it Hbelongsl' to the personnel operating that equipment. But, just as soon as a casualty occurs, the ET specialists are called in lmost of the time between midnight and 0400, or so it seemsl to repair the down equipment. Operating some of this complicated, electronic gear are the radarmen. These men, whose base of operations is the Combat Information Center, work hand-in-hand with bridge watch teams to ensure the ship's effective performance of every assignment whether it be transit steaming or Naval gunfire support. They manage EPPERSON's nerve center of the ship and are responsible for the collection interpretation and dissemination of valuable information to other parts of the ship Thus we have in capsule summary a glance at the complex structure that is Operations Department I-lf' 111 LT. Karl M. Sanolwa Augustana College USS ROCKBRIDGE lAPA-285 Heaolquarter Alasakan Command - CINCAL Naval Destroyer School

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