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Home : Media : News
NEWS | April 28, 2017

SERMC Makes Emergent Repairs to Mason

By Scott Curtis SERMC

The ship suffered a casualty to the Slewing Arm Davit (SLAD), equipment vital in launching and recovering Rigid Inflatable Boats (RIB) to support small boat operations at sea. Within 24 hours, SERMC repaired the SLAD, enabling her to leave port the next afternoon fully operational and ready to resume her mission.

When the casualty occurred, SERMC’s Visiting Ship Project Manager Luis Burgos was notified, and he began lining up the Production and Engineering support.

“We worked with the Maintenance Team and Naval Surface Squadron 14 from about 2:00 p.m. Friday into Saturday morning, figuring out what was wrong and what the most expeditious way forward so the ship could get back to sea for required exercises,” said LCDR Stephen Brown, repair officer at SERMC.

Initially, Machinist’s Mate Chief Mark Holbert, Boatswain’s Mate 2nd Class James Dowdee and Boatswain’s Mate 2nd Class Marcus Jones went to the ship and assisted ship’s force by removing all of the badly damaged pre-existing components. Then, with in-house Fleet Tech Assist by Ash Gravely, SERMC assisted ship’s force by re-installing the new wire rope and Davit accessories.

“We successfully completed what would normally be at least a multi-day effort in less than 24 hours. The lead time to get the material, if we had to order it like we normally do, could have been weeks or a month or more,” Brown said.

SERMC and Mason were fortunate that a ready wire rope was on hand.

The following day, Saturday, Chief Boatswain’s Mate Kathy Tonnah, Boatswain’s Mate 1st Class Anthony Stokesbury, Boatswain’s Mate 2nd Class Alexa Macri, Boatswain’s Mate 2nd Class Alexander Heineman and Boatswain’s Mate 2nd Class Eric Garcia from the Weight Test Shop were called in to completed a Rated Load (equivalent to the Davit's Safe Working Load) test of 6,000 lbs.

SERMC’s ability to be flexible to meet the fleet's needs was recognized by Mason’s Commanding Officer, Cmdr. Stephen Aldridge, “Your personnel and facilities embody what it truly means to be ‘always ready!’

“Having a repair team standing by as we moored in Mayport was both reassuring and an outstanding sign of professionalism. Additionally, to have completed such an arduous repair in a safe and expeditious manner most certainly raises the bar for Regional Maintenance Centers,” Aldridge added.

For more information about SERMC, visit: http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Home/RMC/SERMC/

For more information about USS Mason, visit: http://www.mason.navy.mil/