The WAVY Navy Ship Salute is a feature on WAVY News 10 Today. Each month, in partnership with the U.S. Navy, WAVY-TV 10 will profile a different ship based at the world’s largest Navy base: Naval Station Norfolk. The series aims to better introduce our viewers to some of the largest floating taxpayer assets there are, as well as life aboard a U.S. Navy ship.
NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — USS Fort Lauderdale, a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, is back from its 11-month-long maiden deployment. The crew welcomed WAVY’s Nick Broadway with enthusiasm Friday morning. We spoke with their commanding officer about the recent voyage.
“We got to provide humanitarian assistance, disaster relief to Venezuela in the wake of a pretty devastating earthquake there, and then also, Hurricane Melissa hit Jamaica back in October,” said Captain Jiwan Mack, USS Fort Lauderdale Commanding Officer. “We were able to deliver supplies there as well. So those were probably the two big highlights from our deployment, most of the crew will take that with them for the rest of their lives.”
When underway with roughly 600 total on board, they went through at least 2,000 eggs each day. They won two Ney awards back-to-back, recognizing the work in their mess deck.
“Recognition for food service excellence in the Navy,” CS1 Hazel Holbrook said. “It’s really about recognizing the hard work, professionalism, recognition of our sailors.”
On the flight deck, they had WAVY’s Nick Broadway suit up and go behind the hose for a damage control exercise. Like any Navy ship, they do not mess around with fires on board. Practicing firefighting is crucial.
“We practice this quite often,” HTC Aaron Patterson said. “That way, when we do combat the fire, we already know what we’re doing. We’re already ahead of the curve.”
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