Location: N 26 24.1 W 083 57.3 Course: 357 Speed 14.0 kt
Weather: Partly Cloudy, Wind ESE 14 kt. Seas: Small Swell.
More painting, more training and the students are ready to see Tampa, FL. We held a drill in the morning, simulating a fire in Freshman berthing, requiring the Emergency Squad to respond two decks below and in a very confined space. The Chief Mate had selected 5 simulated casualties and our E-Squad managed the situation quite well, getting the simulated casualties up to Ship’s Medical while also fighting the simulated fire.
The afternoon was spent with Deck Students getting a chance to try maneuvering the ship to pick up a simulated “Man Overboard.” Some tough lessons were learned about leeway and turning radius but overall, they did very well.
Today’s TSSOM fun fact is provided by 2/C Brendan Scully: The steering gear aboard the TSSOM is capable of producing nearly 667,000 ft-lbs of torque. It is the piece of equipment in the aft part of the ship that moves the rudder in order to change the course of the vessel. For comparison, a new diesel pickup truck off the lot can produce upwards of 600 ft-lbs of torque, which means it would take over 1100 trucks to equal the torque of the steering gear.
We will pick up the pilot at 0500 on Friday and expect to be along side well before lunch. Since the students will be maximizing their liberty time in port, we will not put out a new blog until we get back to sea on Monday. Hopefully we will have some good stories to relay to you about Tampa.
DISCLAIMER: 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.

Maybe all that talk about teamwork is paying off…

Taking a break from Deck Training.

Shooting a sun line.

Hey, I didn’t know we had a periscope on
the TSSOM?!