I Earned a New Nick Name at Work

[ltorlo64]

About 2500 people on the USS NIMITZ now call me CHENG! The CHENG is the Chief Engineer. The Chief Engineer is the Engineering Department Head with about 300 Officers, Chiefs, and Sailors working directly for me. I am responsible for the electrical distribution system outside the nuclear propulsion plants, potable water, sewage disposal, air conditioning, 400 Hz electrical distribution, O2 N2 production, storage, and distribution, operation and maintenance of the air craft elevators and steam catapult system, damage control, and the organic repair capabilities of the ship. It is by far the best job in the Navy and I am blessed to be able to serve in it. I also get, after 32 years of service, my own parking space and my own stateroom with a private head! What more would I want in life!!!

The other aspect of my new job is to be the Overhaul Manager for a 18 month dry docking that we will be doing soon. That will be challenging but I am very excited about it. I expect that I will have to retire in 2 years, just as we finish our overhaul. I will be very busy, but I cannot imagine not liking this job.

[alismith]

Congratulations! Are you still in DC?

[Richard Simmons]

Congratulations Chuck! You're gonna have a lot on your plate your last two years. I wish you well.

[Schuetzenman]

Congrats on the new position.

[ltorlo64]

Congratulations! Are you still in DC?

No, been gone for about 2 months. I am now in Bremerton, WA.

[l921428x]

C'mon man don't think he would have to be on the ship?

Proud as hell of ya I do not believe they would give a very important job to just anyone.
I hope you wanted it.

[imanaknut]

CONGRATS!!! Thanks for your continued service.

[Altarboy]

Dude that is awesome. Congratulations.

[rci2950]

Congrats.

[El Duce]

Hats off to you Sir!

[ltorlo64]

I hope you wanted it.

Very much! This is the best job I could hope for and the one I have been training for since I became an officer!

[Helen Keller]

sorry, had to.

[number6]

The USS NIMITZ. Heard that name on the news last week. Isn't she our largest aircraft carrier with TWO nuclear powered engines?
Congrats on the promotion.

[therewolf]

Congratulations, a promotion, and yard time back in the states.
Could be good times for you.

[ltorlo64]

The USS NIMITZ. Heard that name on the news last week. Isn't she our largest aircraft carrier with TWO nuclear powered engines?
Congrats on the promotion.

Not the largest but it does have two nuclear reactors. For this tour I will not be operating them but supervising the repairs to the plants that the crew makes. As for size, when it was built it was the largest. Each ship since has been built just a couple feet longer to be able to say it was the largest, but in actual practice they all displace (how ships are really measured) about the same tonnage (~90,000 tons!).

[l921428x]

Very much! This is the best job I could hope for and the one I have been training for since I became an officer!

Well hell that makes it EVEN better. And what a beautiful ship to play with.

[Krupski]

About 2500 people on the USS NIMITZ now call me CHENG! The CHENG is the Chief Engineer. The Chief Engineer is the Engineering Department Head with about 300 Officers, Chiefs, and Sailors working directly for me. I am responsible for the electrical distribution system outside the nuclear propulsion plants, potable water, sewage disposal, air conditioning, 400 Hz electrical distribution, O2 N2 production, storage, and distribution, operation and maintenance of the air craft elevators and steam catapult system, damage control, and the organic repair capabilities of the ship. It is by far the best job in the Navy and I am blessed to be able to serve in it. I also get, after 32 years of service, my own parking space and my own stateroom with a private head! What more would I want in life!!!

The other aspect of my new job is to be the Overhaul Manager for a 18 month dry docking that we will be doing soon. That will be challenging but I am very excited about it. I expect that I will have to retire in 2 years, just as we finish our overhaul. I will be very busy, but I cannot imagine not liking this job.

Awesome! Congratulations!

Hey I have a question for you if (1) You know and (2) You are allowed to tell me:

How do you guys handle CO2 scrubbing? Or is that just a sub problem?

Thanks!

[ltorlo64]

Awesome! Congratulations!

Hey I have a question for you if (1) You know and (2) You are allowed to tell me:

How do you guys handle CO2 scrubbing? Or is that just a sub problem?

Thanks!

This is just a submarine issue. On surface ships we use ventilation (in some cases air conditioned) to bring outside air into the interior of the ship to supply fresh air and remove the old air. On submarines we have CO2 scrubbers which use a chemical that "sucks" the CO2 out of the air while we resupply O2 that we make by electrolysis. When we come to periscope depth we can also ventilate the ship with fresh air to remove CO2 and restore O2 levels.

On both types of ships, for spaces (called voids) that do not have ventilation we have procedures that required them to be opened a certain amount of time with temporary ventilation installed before we test the atmosphere to ensure it is safe for life before we allow access to the void.

Hope this is what you were looking for.

[Hobe Sound AK]

Is this the same Nimitz from the 1980 Movie? How Old is She? What Rank are you? Is it ever possible to bring one of the Iowa Class back??? Paul

[ltorlo64]

Is this the same Nimitz from the 1980 Movie? How Old is She? What Rank are you? Is it ever possible to bring one of the Iowa Class back??? Paul

In order:
Yes and the movie was "The Final Countdown." They still show it onboard sometimes.

I am a LDO CDR.

Doubt they will bring back the IOWA class as the nature of naval warfare and weaponry has changed. I will admit that those 16" guns are impressive, even awesome, but the munitions we have now are better at taking out the infrastructure, troops, and equipment than the old weapons were. Battleships were also designed around battles at sea and with the advent of the aircraft carrier battleships were replaced as the most effective way to conduct combat operations at sea (at least as far as surface ships go).