PB8 I Still Like Ike

A few weeks ago my loving wife of some 25 years informed me that she had been assigned to a secret mission in Norfolk, Virginia, and asked if I would like to go along. I jumped at the chance because I knew I could visit Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown, while she was doing whatever she was doing during the day. In the evening, we could have dinner with one of our navy friends, now an admiral, and his wife, in their new home in Virginia Beach. Because the Commander was on orders, we scored a room in the officers’ quarters on the Norfolk Navy Base. The following morning after MLWOS25yrs went off to work, I jumped in my rental car to do some history.

My route off the base took me past the piers and, as I drove by, I saw an old friend; USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. I decided Jamestown could wait. In light of post 9/11 security, getting on board was a challenge but, with persistence and my retired military ID card, I was able to walk up the brow and enter the hangar bay. It was like coming home.
USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, or “Ike”, is the second of ten Nimitz class aircraft carriers. The final ship in the class, USS George H.W. Bush, is still being built. Displacing 97,000 tons, these carriers are the largest and most complex warships ever built. Powered by two nuclear reactors, Nimitz class carriers are totally self sustaining. They are capable of launching their 85 aircraft day or night and raining unbelievable death and destruction on the enemy at very short notice. But the very presence of these ships usually means that we don’t have to use them.

Twenty years ago, I was assigned to Ike as the Assistant Supply Officer. My boss was the supply officer. His job was to insure that the supply department functioned correctly in support of the ship, the captain, the air wing, and the embarked admiral and his staff. My job was to do what the supply officer told me to do. We worked really well together. Running the supply department involved; supervising 15 officers and 750 enlisted men; inventory management of 120,000 spare parts; food service (four meals a day for 5,680 men; we offered a midnight supper); providing all non tactical computer systems; running the ship’s laundry, two barbershops, and five retail stores; accounting for all ship’s purchases and receipts; paying the crew (we carried several million dollars in cash); and managing the 250 staterooms (the “hotel”) for all the officers. Oh, and we were responsible for the maintenance of our “spaces” (compartments) encompassing about 25% of the ship. No glamour and lots of work but until I came to Granville, it was the best job I ever had.

Lots of sailors get attached to their ships but Ike really was special. We called it “Ike mystique”. Everyone wanted to be assigned to Ike. The captain set the tone. He was adamant that his crew be professional, positive, and pleasant. It was a requirement that everyone get along and we did. “I like Ike” buttons were worn on our uniforms in defiance of regulations. We worked very long hours but had lots of fun doing it. Ike deployed to the Mediterranean, visited 11 different ports and met every commitment with professionalism, confidence, and a “can do” attitude. Everything just came together.

It all ended badly. Returning from that extremely successful six month deployment, just fifteen minutes from the pier in Norfolk where all of our families were waiting for us, we ran into another ship. No one was hurt but Ike sustained some damage. Collisions of navy ships, no matter how minor, are not acceptable for obvious reasons. We got a new captain shortly thereafter and what promised to be a joyful reunion became more like a funeral. It was a very sad day.

My evening with the admiral ended badly too. After a very nice dinner at his new home on the beach, I backed my rental car into his newly landscaped flower garden and knocked down the wall around it. I guess you have to take the bad with the good. You know I’m right!