Let It Snow
By MC3 Robert Winn
USS Nimitz (CVN 68) experienced its first snow day in over three years. More than a foot of snow in the areas surrounding Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton halted traffic for commuters trying to get to work.
Automated messages informed shipboard personnel of up to two-hour delays later modified to a complete closure of the base to all non-essential personnel and urged duty section personnel to arrive when they could and safely.
“On any duty day, you have enough man power on the ship to run the whole ship,” said Senior Chief Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (equipment) Juan Naranjo, senior section leader of duty section three. “At any given time a duty section should be able to stand duty for three to four days at a time if they absolutely had to.”
Nimitz prepared for the snowstorm that hit the Olympic peninsula late Tuesday night by informing it’s Sailors of what avenues to check to see weather conditions and closure status for the base and surrounding areas. Recall numbers and website links were distributed throughout the command to ensure Sailors living away from base knew how to get to work safely and in a timely fashion.
“The ship was as prepared as it could be,” said Senior Chief Legalman Robert Nail. “People showed up, the ship didn’t sink, we cleaned off the brows and the watches were manned and relieved. Short of having the oncoming duty section spend the night going into the snowstorm, I think we were as prepared as we possibly could be.”
Naranjo expects Nimitz to bounce back quickly from the flurries. “We’ll be back within 24 hours,” he
explained. “The streets are already being cleared. Each Sailor who lives out in town knows they’ve got to come to work tomorrow, so now that everyone knows what to expect, as long as the snow continues to let up we’ll be fine tomorrow.”
As a seagoing vessel, Nimitz’ productivity remains unaffected by the storms brought by the Pacific Northwest’s cold.
“This doesn’t hurt our production, or shouldn’t,” said Naranjo. “Because most of us live aboard anyway, most of your supervisors are here and know their jobs. They just go on with regular production, just with the staff that’s on hand.”
Safety is paramount to those working aboard Nimitz. Air department closed the flight deck to non-essential personnel as a preemptive measure to prevent anyone from slipping on snow which reached depths of nearly two inches in some areas.
Duty section braved the cold to make the ship more accessible to oncoming Sailors by clearing the snow and salting the brows and pier.
For more information about base closures and inclement weather warnings see WWW.CNIC.NAVY.MIL/KITSAP.
