Fog, SW Wind at 14 kts, 1021 mBs, 87°F Air, 86°F Sea

Storm clouds over Port Canaveral during departure.

Underway once more, operations have been calm as students return to the daily work rotations. These rotations are only ever interrupted for emergencies and drills. During these drills, billet cards on the doors of rooms state a midshipman’s responsibilities within the drills. On the TSSOM we have four main drills that are performed on a weekly or biweekly basis –

Fire: This drill is started with the continuous ringing of the general alarm bells and sounding of the ship’s whistle. All MIDN not assigned to a task are to report to their assigned life raft or lifeboat while the Emergency Squad (Or E-Squad) don SCBA and potentially full turnout gear in order to proceed to the location that a practice fire would have occurred in a real scenario, such as in the galley.

Abandon Ship: Abandon ship can only be called by the vessel’s captain, Captain MacArthur, and involves all individuals are to report to their assigned lifeboat or raft. With the sounding of six short blasts of the horn and bells followed by a long blast of over ten seconds duration, operations begin. For this drill and fire, if not assigned to a task, MIDN are to put on their life jacket and bring their immersion suit (Aka gumby suit) for the event of a water entry. Then members of the Boat Squad will lower the lifeboats to the embarkation deck where they would be boarded. For safety purposes, no individuals enter the boats however this ensures that the tracks remain clear and inspected regularly for the event of use.

Man Overboard: One of the most crucial drills is man overboard. At the sounding of this alarm, the last seen location of the member to have fallen overboard is called and all not on watch are to assist in searching the water as retrieval maneuvers are performed.

Security Breach: In the event of a security breach such as an illegal boarding, the bridge, and all other MIDN are to lock down their locations and any doors to the interior structures. From here a group of dedicated individuals are to respond where the threat would be located as shoreside officials are notified.

Due to the Training Ship’s limited connectivity to the internet, blog postings are delayed and are not intended for real-time communication. To communicate with your student, please send messages to his or her issued e-mail address.

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