Canadian River Class Destroyer Megathread

[Navy_Pete]

It's funny/disappointing because, I would have been happy to give a tour and explanation of ops to any cook, storesy, bosn, stoker, etc. if they wanted to come check out Ops.

On the flip side, plenty of people in ops that have also never checked out the galleys, storerooms or machinery rooms, which is awesome when they are going in there for the first time to fight a fire.

One of the fun things of being the Engineer that I got to every space onboard during normal rounds, and would usually end up chatting to people and asking them stuff like that, so got a pretty good idea of the whole ship operation.

 

[GR66]

On the flip side, plenty of people in ops that have also never checked out the galleys, storerooms or machinery rooms, which is awesome when they are going in there for the first time to fight a fire.

One of the fun things of being the Engineer that I got to every space onboard during normal rounds, and would usually end up chatting to people and asking them stuff like that, so got a pretty good idea of the whole ship operation.

I'm surprised that an orientation tour isn't standard for a crew member's first shipboard assignment.

 

[Lumber]

I'm surprised that an orientation tour isn't standard for a crew member's first shipboard assignment.

That is actually surprising.

As a junior officer, regardless of trade, the first thing you do when you get aboard is start working toward your "Officer of Day" qualification. I remember by boss, the NavO, telling us one of those first few days to "Go wander the ship and try and get lost, and once you're lost, try and find your way out. Go literally everywhere." You find there are places up ladders you never would think existed when you take that approach, but it certainly helped us learn and memorize the layout of the ship.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

On the flip side, plenty of people in ops that have also never checked out the galleys, storerooms or machinery rooms, which is awesome when they are going in there for the first time to fight a fire.

One of the fun things of being the Engineer that I got to every space onboard during normal rounds, and would usually end up chatting to people and asking them stuff like that, so got a pretty good idea of the whole ship operation.

The local fire department gets tours of the shipyards for that very reason. Getting to know your ship is important.

 

[Lumber]

You have to get people involved I don't care what the organization does. People perform better if they have some understanding of what everybody else does and how they fit into the puzzle as it were.

Our chief was giving briefing to the whole department and mentioned something along the lines "and if you need xxx just go to the Weapons Officer", and it dawned on me: do the S3s and even S2s even know what a Weapons Officer is, let alone who it is? I asked a couple of them and they had no idea. So, from then on whenever we got new S3s and even S2s posted in, I'd give them a tour of the Ops room and a run-down on the structure of every position and section within Ops, what each person/position's role was, how they worked together, etc. It was surprising how, even for those who'd been there a few weeks, how little they knew about who everyone around them was, and what their roles were.

 

[NavyShooter]

As a CSE guy, I was everywhere on a ship just to work on my gear. I made it a point on every ship I was on to get into every space at some point. I did not enter tanks, however I've been everywhere else.

HMS work happening? Down through the SONAR trunk into the canoe - literally standing below the keel while the ship is in the water. Duty Tech? Climb through all of the uptakes - not just to check the Halon Gas compartment, but all the way up in each of the Engine Rooms and the AMRs.

Knowing your ship is somewhat important.

 

[Halifax Tar]

I'm surprised that an orientation tour isn't standard for a crew member's first shipboard assignment.

Part of gaining your duty watch qualifications is completing X # of fire tours of the ship.; and sailors must complete their Know Your Ship book. If done correctly they should go to every space on the ship to verify what DC and FA equipment (fitted or otherwise) is in that space.

 

[Underway]

Down through the SONAR trunk into the canoe - literally standing below the keel while the ship is in the water.

I did that once, and I will never do it again, at least now with more people then myself. I was NOT comfortable at all. The other place that most people don't get to is the very top of the mast, where the SG-180 radar is located. Just hanging at out with your fall arrest gear looking down the FAMR stacks and thinking "If I fell down from here its a long way to the FAMR...".

 

[NavyShooter]

I did that once, and I will never do it again, at least now with more people then myself. I was NOT comfortable at all. The other place that most people don't get to is the very top of the mast, where the SG-180 radar is located. Just hanging at out with your fall arrest gear looking down the FAMR stacks and thinking "If I fell down from here its a long way to the FAMR...".

It was something that I asked (not forced) my junior sailors to do with me when the space was open and being worked in. Few got to the very bottom. It is a distinctly uncomfortable space to work in.

As for the mast? I've worked the SG-180 platform level many times including working on a replacement cable run to the Starboard WSI once in foreign port. We had fun with that one.
My first day on my first ship (HMCS Gatineau) I was climbing the Main Mast with my boss, and since in those days we didn't have harnesses, I was just wearing the 'belt' like we use to limit movement in the dump area during a RAS, and was tied off with yellow Poly rope. If I'd fallen, I would have either snapped in half, or, more likely, slipped right out and splattered.

Crawling down into the Speed Log and Echo Sounder cofferdam is good fun as well....here's a slightly younger me down at the bottom of the space:

 

[Halifax Tar]

It was something that I asked (not forced) my junior sailors to do with me when the space was open and being worked in. Few got to the very bottom. It is a distinctly uncomfortable space to work in.

As for the mast? I've worked the SG-180 platform level many times including working on a replacement cable run to the Starboard WSI once in foreign port. We had fun with that one.
My first day on my first ship (HMCS Gatineau) I was climbing the Main Mast with my boss, and since in those days we didn't have harnesses, I was just wearing the 'belt' like we use to limit movement in the dump area during a RAS, and was tied off with yellow Poly rope. If I'd fallen, I would have either snapped in half, or, more likely, slipped right out and splattered.

Crawling down into the Speed Log and Echo Sounder cofferdam is good fun as well....here's a slightly younger me down at the bottom of the space:

View attachment 95148

Handsome SOB

 

[NavyShooter]

For reference, the space I'm in is literally right on the keel - the round fitting by my left knee is the port Doppler speed log transducer. Here's the outside view.

 

[Navy_Pete]

I'm surprised that an orientation tour isn't standard for a crew member's first shipboard assignment.

It is, most people only go into a most spaces once or twice, and generally don't enough attention that it sticks. Other people can find their way around the ship blindfolded. Some of the techs (like electricians) tend to go absolutely everywhere as part of their job, but some people only go from their bunks to the meal line to a few spaces they work in regularly.

Know your ship covers a lot of things, but for the most part all the firemain valves, fitted system pull stations, etc are in the passageways, so that's what people get familiar with.

Also, big difference between going into the engine room alongside with everything shut down, and trying to fight a fire while shafts are turning beside you. FRE crew did an awesome job with that, with the on scene coordinators making sure that people from other departments in particular paid attention to that kind of thing, and maintained tight control of the routing etc. That one had them going up a ladder into the upper platforms where normally no one outside the MSED goes, and most people don't know exists, but we've had enough fires that kind of thing was built into our training and SOPs, so worked really well.

 

[Navy_Pete]

As a CSE guy, I was everywhere on a ship just to work on my gear. I made it a point on every ship I was on to get into every space at some point. I did not enter tanks, however I've been everywhere else.

HMS work happening? Down through the SONAR trunk into the canoe - literally standing below the keel while the ship is in the water. Duty Tech? Climb through all of the uptakes - not just to check the Halon Gas compartment, but all the way up in each of the Engine Rooms and the AMRs.

Knowing your ship is somewhat important.

Some of my favourite routes popped up behind the bridge and usually scared someone on watch as no one expects the EO to pop out of the uptakes randomly.

I was still doing a step challenge from my previous unit at that point, and just from doing that kind of thing daily for a month we suddenly crushed everyone, as I was hitting 30k-40k steps a day with 40-50 flights of stairs (I think they changed the rules for next year around posted people lol).

 

[dapaterson]

but we've had enough fires that kind of thing was built into our training and SOPs, so worked really well.

Not normally a bragging point.

 

[Navy_Pete]

Not normally a bragging point.

But at least a silver lining that eventually we standardized our SOPs and added in a few LL, even if the BOIs and investigations have been made confidential or buried.

The downside is that most people don't understand the 'why' behind the SOPs or tactics, and overtime they get rid of things that were added due to LL, and the actual root causes behind the fires don't get fixed and keep happening. Also, recommendations from the BOIs get implemented with no context and we end up with a large, expensive fitted fire fighting system on JSS that will never get used because of other systems available, is a massive maintenance sink, and isn't needed under class rules. If only we had SMEs that pointed this out repeatedly early enough to avoid the expense...

 

[SeaKingTacco]

It is, most people only go into a most spaces once or twice, and generally don't enough attention that it sticks. Other people can find their way around the ship blindfolded. Some of the techs (like electricians) tend to go absolutely everywhere as part of their job, but some people only go from their bunks to the meal line to a few spaces they work in regularly.

Know your ship covers a lot of things, but for the most part all the firemain valves, fitted system pull stations, etc are in the passageways, so that's what people get familiar with.

Also, big difference between going into the engine room alongside with everything shut down, and trying to fight a fire while shafts are turning beside you. FRE crew did an awesome job with that, with the on scene coordinators making sure that people from other departments in particular paid attention to that kind of thing, and maintained tight control of the routing etc. That one had them going up a ladder into the upper platforms where normally no one outside the MSED goes, and most people don't know exists, but we've had enough fires that kind of thing was built into our training and SOPs, so worked really well.

I have heard legends about there being a deck below two deck on a frigate…

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

I have heard legends about there being a deck below two deck on a frigate…

Yes, It's called "stores".

 

[SeaKingTacco]

Yes, It's called "stores".

I think that is even lower….

 

[Halifax Tar]

Yes, It's called "stores".

A bunch of cantankerous rats work down in those spaces

 

[Navy_Pete]

A bunch of cantankerous rats work down in those spaces

I always enjoyed the rumour of a swimming pool down on 7 Deck