Thursday, 28 January 1999
As of 0800 this morning, the Empire State was located at 12 degrees 01 minutes North latitude, 068 degrees 07 minutes West longitude. She is steering a course of 240 degrees true at a speed of 11.5 knots. She is approximately 3.5 nautical miles east of Bonaire. The depth of water under the keel is 6000 feet. The weather at her position is partly cloudy with occasional rain, wind out of the East @ 8 kts, sea state 2 (2 feet), air temp 76 degrees F, water temp 80 degrees F. Barometric pressure 1015 millibars.
CAPTAINS LOG:
We spent the last two nights beyond sight of land and that enabled everyone to rest easier. Island hopping is good practice for the cadets, but it involves additional stress for the Deck Officers. Maneuvering around islands and associated shallows, requires constant vigilance; almost the same effort as restricted water navigation for port entry. The Bridge Watch Team remains in nearly a constant piloting situation.
The Deck Training Department is deeply involved when we train like this. In addition to their considerable teaching responsibilities, Deck Training staff also have Mate of the Watch duties. They are fully licensed deck officers, with qualifications ranging from Third Mate to Master. The Mates aboard for this Sea Term come predominately from the shipping industry and most are here because they simply want to take part in training the next generation of sea going professionals. My classmate, Capt. Craig Dalton of Kingston, Massachusetts, most ably leads the Deck Department. Craig has ten mates working for him.
The Deck Department wrote our Sea Term navigation training plan which includes difficult practical application sessions. They are now overseeing the execution of it. Mate of the Watch, Dan Dolson, supervised the division 2 watch team yesterday morning. The watch team was tested during a navigation proficiency drill. The watch section was led by Cadet Officer of the Watch (COOW) 1/C John Crocker of Oak Bluffs, MA. The Junior Officer of the Watch (JOOW), 2/C Josip Posavec of Split, Croatia, handled celestial navigation. The team also included Cadets 1/C Robert Dobrowolski of Irvington, NJ, and 3/C John Buckridge of Pine Bush, NY, who served as plotters; 1/C Michael George of Holden, MA worked celestial navigation and the radar. Cadets 3/C Richard Mason of Arlington, VT, 3/C Marc Fitton of Naples, FL and 3/C Donald Sprague of Wrentham, MA, supervised the helmsman, handled communications, and kept the records.
The challenge; navigated the ship for an entire watch without using any modern navigational electronics, except for the radar. Admiral Breshnahan agreed to judge their performance which added significantly to the anxiety. The drill began at a position (fix) obtained via the Global Positioning System (GPS). From that precise point, the cadets navigated by dead reckoning, celestial navigation, bottom contour plotting, or other traditional techniques of their choice. They worked through occasional rain squalls and the overcast and partly cloudy sky compounded the difficulty. Before the watch section was relieved, another (GPS) fix was taken and their estimated position compared to it.
They did a tremendous job! Their estimated position was within 1.2 nautical miles of the 1130 GPS fix. That is no small feat. It serves as testament to the level of team work, attention to detail, and personal pride that these young people display in everything that they do here. What a confidence builder!
They earned an "A".