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Here are some of the activities done on the second day aboard
Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star associated with Deep Freeze 2016. (Read
about the first day)
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A U.S. Coast Guard HH-52A Seaguard helicopter landing on the icebreaker USCGC Polar Star (WAGB-10) IN 2005. (U.S Coast Guard courtesy photo)
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Day 2
0800-1200 ... Radio
There's a door on the Polar Star, just one deck below the bridge,
with a nice big warning sign. Past the point of the door there is no
photography allowed or, for that matter, so much as a written
description of what lies beyond. For that reason, we'll keep this
watch focused on what happens behind the mysterious door, which is a
connection to the outside world.
The qualified radio
watchstander this morning is Petty Officer 2nd Class Patrick Toomey,
an operations specialist in the Polar Star's communications division
who is currently on his third mission to Antarctica.
Toomey
starts his watch by logging on to the radio room's computer, a key
aspect of the radio watch. It may seem simple, but the radio
watchstander's 24-hour monitoring of their email accounts makes them
the easiest members of the crew to contact should the cutter's
command back at Coast Guard Pacific Area in Alameda, Calif., need to
send a message.
The radio room also, predictably, has an
array of radios.
“We have HF and UHF communications,” says
Toomey. “We can monitor the distress and general high seas
frequencies.”
The radio watch does not only receive
communications, either. From the little room the watchstander sends
weather updates to the Navy Fleet Weather Center and operational
updates and cutter position to PACAREA.
Maintaining
communications is almost an afterthought in a world of cell phones
and nearly ubiquitous Wi-Fi, but at 75 degrees south of the equator
that's not the case.
“If we're off the coast of Honolulu and
our satellite communication isn't working, we're going to do
everything we can to troubleshoot,” says Toomey. “Down here we still
troubleshoot, but there's only so much you can do. The satellite we
use isn't even supposed to work this far south.”
Tyranny of
distance or not, the radio watch does manage to keep the crew
informed, and also manages the iridium satellite phone for timely
contact with the outside world when necessary.
As the mostly
quiet watch continues, Toomey takes a look out of the lone porthole
in a connected room. McMurdo Station looms just in the distance. It
won't be long before he and the other crewmembers will be stretching
their legs on land again. Before that happens, though, there is a
channel to be cleared for Operation Deep Freeze 2016, and in the
meantime there are two more watches to stand. Next up is the
auxiliary watch, and for that we head back below decks to meet up in
the engineering control center.
1200-1600 ... Auxiliary Machinery
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Petty Officer 3rd Class Justin Turnbough, an auxiliary machinery watchstander and electrician's mate in the Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star's engineering department, trains Petty Officer 2nd Class Gavin Dunaway, an electrical technician, while underway in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, Jan. 10, 2016. The auxiliary machinery watchstander
inspects and keeps logs of most of the machinery in the icebreaker. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Grant DeVuyst)
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Back in main control the Polar Star's engineer work force
is preparing their propulsion system for another day of
icebreaking. The EOW dispatches his expert, Petty Officer
3rd Class Justin Turnbough, an electrician's mate in the
Polar Star's engineer department. He has two break-ins with
him, both learning the ropes of the diverse and complicated
machinery.
“The aux watch has to know electrical
systems, propulsion systems, damage control systems, and
diesel systems,” says Turnbough, naming a handful of the
auxiliary machinery watch responsibilities. “We go
throughout the ship every hour and make sure everything is
running as it's supposed to.”
Once in the cutter's
turbine room, Turnbough and his break-ins, Petty Officer 2nd
Class Gavin Dunaway and Petty Officer 3rd Class Kyle Koning,
both electrical technicians, prepare the three massive
turbines for action. Just one of these gas turbines puts out
more horsepower than all three of the ship's diesel engines
combined. With such raw power comes the need for extreme
caution, honed expertise, and constant preparation to
respond to an emergency.
Once the turbines are
running as smoothly as possible, Turnbough begins his round
about the Polar Star. The ship-wide examination is so
complex that by the time he finishes, it's time to start
over again. There is not one facet of shipboard life that
doesn't rely on the equipment monitored by the auxiliary
machinery watchstander. The watch is a steady walk: up and
down ladders, through 100-degree turbine rooms and out into
frigid Antarctic wind, from the deepest bilge to the
towering smokestacks above. It passes for a moderate cardio
workout.
Just as the watch ends, the ship finishes
its icebreaking duty for the day. An unexpectedly thin patch
of ice allowed for quick channel making, and the rumble of
the laborious work grinds to a halt just as our final watch
begins.
1600-2000 ... Security
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Seaman Morrow Tapia, a boatswain's mate of the watch on the Coast
Guard Cutter Polar Star, ties down a safety net on the cutter's
flight deck while underway in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, Jan. 9,
2016. The BMOW makes rounds about the ship to ensure that cargo and
equipment is safely stowed while at sea. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Grant DeVuyst)
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We meet the security watchstander just where the
auxiliary watch ends: in the Polar Star's main control. If
you're picturing a bouncer or Secret Service agent, you're
in for a surprise.
Fireman Corin Gilbert, a member of
the Polar Star's main propulsion division, is taking the
watch and prepared to begin his own round about the ship.
Gilbert's security watch is, in some ways, similar to
the auxiliary watch, he explains.
“Security is
basically going around to all the main pieces of equipment
and making sure that it's within parameters,” says Gilbert.
“Like checking the lube oil levels, making sure the air
pressure is up and making sure everything is running
properly.”
The watch is stood exclusively by firemen,
the engineering department's newest Coast Guardsmen. With
few exceptions, the Polar Star is their first assignment out
of boot camp.
“The security finds something and says,
‘this is wrong,'” Gilbert says. “The aux shows up and says,
‘okay, this is how we fix it.'”
Both watch positions
would be hindered without the other, and it gives newer
engineers the chance to learn the machinery with backup.
Each hour Gilbert makes his round, reporting back to the
EOW and taking precise readings on tanks and gauges
throughout the ship, which is now settled in the ice for the
night.
As Gilbert's watch ends he relays a passdown
to the oncoming watchstander. The same thing happens across
the ship: on the bridge, in the radio space, and were it not
past icebreaking hours, up in aloft conn. It's the same set
of standards and training in a different set of hands. A new
watch full of who-knows-what hazards and surprises, but an
equally prepared team ready to face them.
Hopefully
you have a better picture of what life is like aboard the
Polar Star, and what it takes to operate it.
Day 1
By U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Grant DeVuyst
Provided
through
Coast
Guard
Copyright 2016
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