Lexington (CVA 16) - Naval Cruise Book

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arc-welding is one function of repair division. E. fog Foan1 stations. i are manned in several key areas at all Lfimes torn 'A Fast, reliable' fire-fighting. LEXINGTON machine shops are areas of constant activity.

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LEXlNGTON'S Gun Boss, Commander Arnold, bosses what is in effect two departments plus several splinter groups. Sometimes Gunnery is described as eleven divisions looking for a department. Most divisions belong to one of two main functional areas, deck and ordnance. The deck divisions-first, second, and third-are manned by the last real sailors. These men deal with ropes and knots, block and tackles, old fashioned seamanship. They are the boatswainmates and they take care of equipment from foc's'le to fantail. Six divisions belong to the ordnance group-Gi, G2, GM, Fifth, Fox, and W. If that hobglob of titles does not con- fuse the uninitiated nothing will. The G group moves most of the actual ordnance around-particulary aircraft arma- ments. GM specifically means Guided Missiles. Fifth division mans and maintains most of the ship's gunsf5,l38's, seven of them. Fox is for Fire Control and they worry over the computers that operate the big guns isorry, no firehosesi. W takes care of that ordnance that the other divisions do not. Clear enough? 'f' The other two Gunnery divisions are Minuteman Guard and the Marine Detachment both of which guard certain sensitive areas and maintain necessary physical security. Moving in and out' of port and during unreps the seaman- ship skills of Deck come most into play. They are the men who hoist or lower the 20 ton anchors and handle the lines. They are the men who rig up the receiving stations for the tons of goods Supply has ordered. No matter how modern the Navy gets, it will always need the old-fashioned skills of these true mariners. T The ship can steam for thousands of miles quite com- fortably. We can fly planes by the hundreds. Our purpose in being deployed will not be fulfilled by iust this however. We are basically a man of war in the US Navy and as such a tool of our overall foreign policy. But our utility as a tool can only be realized by our ability to move and deliver armament. That is the primary mission of the Ord- nance Group. Our aircraft carry mis- siles, rockets, and bombs of many sizes and shapes. Q Q Storing them, arming them, moving them around are the duties of the various crews of Gi, G2 and GM divisions. The LEXINGTON has her own defensive capability apart from her Air Group-in her 50, 38 gun mounts. Caring for them are the men of Fifth divisiongthe gunnersmates. The guns have seen a lot of wear and tear. Keeping them in good, working order is a big iob. assembling the missiles, Keeping the guns able to shoot may befFifth's iob but how and where they shoot is Fox Divisions chief worry. These are the Fire Control Technicians. Firing a gun at sea is not like firing one on land. The ship moves and rolls and yaws. Movements are in three dimensions. ln addition, the attacking iet plane moves fast and the problem of where it is going to be at what time is a maior problem in itself. We have computers to solve the problem. But all of man's inventions must be run by menfand fixed by men when they do not work. That's Fox's job. The LEXINGTON Marine Detachment is part of ship's com- pany and listed under the Gunnery Department. However, MARDET is more of a separate command. A carrier's Marines have the basic iob of providing amphibious capability. They train and lead the Landing Party. For Gunnery they man two of the seven gun mounts during all firing exercises and would do so in actual combat. For the ship as a whole they provide most of the basic physical internal security by guarding areas containing highly classified materials and disciplining the occasional malcreant who ends up in the brig. Guarding spaces is a manpower consuming iob however and another Gunnery division augments MARDET in this chore -the Minuteman Guard. Security is a maior consideration in any military area, as it needs to be. The MMGD provides much of LEXlNGTON'S security. That is the Gunnery Department. Organizationally they have a Department Head, and four assistants-Special Weapons Officer, Ordnance Officer, Missiles Officer, and First Lieutenant. Below them are the eleve'n divisions ex- plained above. Job wise they range from the bo's'n mate of the watch blowing taps to the man 'in the incinerator burning classified trash to the men on the gun mounts trying like anything to hit that towed spar. ' 1 Department motto: Bang. , ' the guns' ancl . practicing deck seamanship