Exclusive: On board a US Navy destroyer patrolling the Mediterranean

you know our main role is it to be a deterrent you know we're going to be a deterrent to any type of adversary in the region and uh you know should uh should the turns fail you know we have to be ready to uh you know to fight tonight if required for thousands of tourists each year Crete is a place of sea and sunshine holidays for the Destroyer USS James E Williams and her crew though coming here is very much work this one of many stops she's making during a year-long deployment as the flagship of standing NATO Maritime group 2 the alliance's multinational task group in the Mediterranean Sea snmg2 as it's known includes half a dozen frigates and destroyers rear Admiral Scott sharetta is the man in charge of this task group keeping watch over the Mediterranean Sea lanes and NATO's adversaries normally we would do be doing a lot of training and exercises and now you know in addition to this training and exercises to always be ready we're doing a lot of monitoring of the adversary and you know Ukraine is very close to the backyard here of most of our NATO Nations so it brings uh it brings the fight that's going on in Ukraine very close to the to the borders and lands of our allies we have a combination of extremely capable uh frame frigates from from both from both Italy from also from the French we have Greek and Turkish frigates and destroyers the Canadians will be joining us soon so you know we continually flow forces in and out of theater Germany You Name a nation and we're flowing forces in and out the James E Williams call sign dgg 95 entered service in 2004 and he's one of 70 Ali Burke class destroyers in the U.S Navy with four gas turbine engines it can reach speeds of up to 30 knots on board it carries a fearsome arsenal of Firepower including Tomahawk cruise missiles air launch Torpedoes and anti-ship missiles these can be fired from any of 96 vertical launcher tubes on the four and a half decks of the ship for defense that destroyers fitted with the Spy one radar system which beams out from two octagon shaped plates on the ship's superstructure this gives it 360 degree Vision enabling it to track up to 800 targets at a range of more than 200 miles very well today the task group is conducting a live firing exercise the warships training their guns on this small uninhabited Island part of a Greek Naval firing range it involves some delicate navigation managing the ship's speed and direction so they're in the right position to fire the five-inch gun to clear the range they not only have to check the airspace above is empty but also the sea below making sure there's no submarines that could be damaged by Wayward shells after the bigger Weapon It's the turn of the ship's 25 millimeter gun the James E Williams has one of these on each side their nicknames Thelma and Louise more than 300 men and women serve on this Destroyer this deployment will take them away from their base in Norfolk Virginia for six months this is a multinational task group and that's reflected on board ship among the Admiral staff there's Greek Turkish Spanish and Romanian officers plus a British anti-submarine Warfare specialist the war in Ukraine of course has focused NATO's mind very much on the need to remain United in this Maritime group for instance there are both Turkish and Greek ships Nations that don't traditionally see eye to eye but here they're working together along with a host of other nations in a common cause but why does NATO need to patrol the med the Mediterranean is a really important region with the Straits of Gibraltar narrow choke point susceptible to terrorist attack if ever there was one so we police that element we've also got the straight up into the Black Sea and obviously we are at the Northern end of the Suez Canal so three key lines of information around the world Center and go through the Mediterranean there's a lot of traffic here we monitor illegal activity and also non-nato activity in the Mediterranean as well as this Destroyer the U.S Navy also has an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean so how is the war in Ukraine affecting the way they operate NATO's always had an interest in Mediterranean Regional security and stability I would say even now with the things going on in Ukraine that adds a different Dynamic to this area there's an active war in this theater of operations and so that makes the mission that we have here for NATO and on behalf of marcom all that more important as there is a active hostilities in the region when you come down below in this ship you really get a sense of how confined things are every single inch every nook and cranny seems to be used for something and these destroyers were definitely designed for warfighting rather than human Comforts now 330 Sailors live and work on board this uh ship and many of them are very young some just out of high school and this deployment is the first time they've left the United States of America providing A Taste of Home are the ship's team of chefs here in the galley they prepare hundreds of meals every day we'd like to think that the galley is the hardest ship okay so we serve about 900 meals per day and a part of that we feed about 300 plus individuals each day right so a byproduct of us being able to supply uh healthy nourishing meals to the crew is to be able to make sure that they are able to go through go for and accomplish admissions set for okay so we have very specific days like taco day Burger day is a big one and then a piece of wing night that's a pretty good one we try to make sure that the the atmosphere here and the morale here is at the standard that way when they're producing food they're producing food with joy they're producing food with love and they understand what our mission is to be able to impact the team the ship's enlisted Sailors several hundred of them eat here on the mess deck on the wall there's a reminder of how this vessel earned its name bosons make James E Williams served on River Patrol boats during the Vietnam war during one legendary battle he destroyed 65 enemy boats his actions earning him the Medal of Honor which is on display on board the ship here too a U.S military tradition the empty table a reminder of those held prisoner or missing in action tucked away in the bow of the Destroyer is one of the busiest areas on board the ship's store on offer here a vast selection of American snacks supplements and merchandise you have a good day with more than 300 Sailors on board someone has to do the paperwork in this admin office they manage their pay and Naval records Priscilla araujo is originally from Albuquerque New Mexico and joined the Navy two and a half years ago my father is really proud of me he's been my biggest supporter since day one when I told him I think I want to join the military he's like okay that's what you want to do in my entire family behind my back super proud I don't have to put two or from like anywhere right no that's good for Sailors away on deployment mail is another vital link to home the ship's post office will send and collect mail each time the Destroyer docks everything from letters to Amazon Parcels but Amazon is great for getting you know people forget stuff they want oh they decide oh man I've got a craving for some you know flaming hot Cheetos and you know they can order it and it'll be here usually two weeks to a month I mean it's not not prime delivery where it's next day but still better than waiting six months before we get back so for many of these Sailors these deployments mean long separations from their families and children one of the walls carries a gallery of new arrivals this can be a tough and intense existence confined spaces little privacy and sporadic contact with home can be difficult to deal with Josh Ashley ships this size didn't have their own Chaplin but that's changing like many of her flock Hayley moffatt known as chaps is new to ocean life she's spending the next two years attached to the James E Williams offering support kindness and a listening ear to anyone who needs it we recognizing each other you signed the same dotted line of the idea that said that we are willing if necessary uh to give our lives in in defense of our nation and defensive our deals and defensive democracy and it's it's truly just absolutely heart changing to to be around people like that that regardless of whether they're 18 37 47 so on and so forth um these are these are people United by that Bond of saying we're willing to do what it takes to defend our nation um to uphold our ideals our values to support our our allies um it's it's incredible they're inspiring and because they give so much because they sacrifice so much I believe that each and every one of them deserves to have someone that they can go to that's the least I can do on on behalf of these people who who every day just give so much for others one of the youngest Sailors on board is mechanic Kerry feibel from Louisiana at the age of just 19 she's already served in the Navy for two years I became a dental assistant before I joined so and I realized I didn't really want to do that at the moment so I figured why not growing up I always helped my dad work on cars and everything so I guess the um I just like to work with my hands so figure why not be a mechanic in the depths of the ship of the dormitories where the crews sleep down here it feels like permanent night the red lighting designed to help Sailors preserve their night vision this tightly packed berth is home to 80 men their bunks stacked three high in what U.S Sailors call for obvious reasons a coffin rack Harley Burke class destroyers our thirsty beasts they're four gas turbine engines burn a thousand gallons of fuel an hour the James E Williams can carry half a million gallons of diesel and today it's getting a Top-Up linking up with the U.S Navy Oiler called kanawa in what Sailors call a con rep or connected replenishment uh so behind me is the replenishment at Sea we are taking on fuel we have multiple stations that we can actually receive fuel at uh back here the stage seven is one of the AFT stations uh we're taking on dfm diesel fuel Marine it's uh just the main fuel that we use on the ship to uh you know give us the juice we need to go I would venture to say that this process at 250 000 gallons would probably take around two about hour and a half to two hours if we were pumping at maximum pressure of 100 PSI on the other side of the canawa is a Turkish frigate also taking on fuel with its tanks full the James E Williams detaches cue another U.S Navy tradition the Breakaway song one of the biggest threats to these warships is submarines the reason they carry an arsenal of air and surface-launch Torpedoes to my left here we have svtt surface vest torpedo tube you see in the movies a lot that submarines will hunt ships with these right but this is the Navy's way of hunting submarines back from surface ships three two Captain kill track two when a sailor in combat information center gives a signal to this system it will slew over the side it will shoot a torpedo out once it hits the water over the side it will ignite and it will go on its mission to hunt its Target those submarines can also be hunted by these the ships to mh-60r Seahawks a maritime version of the Blackhawk deployed from their base in Florida is helicopter Maritime strike Squadron 48 known as the Vipers they have seven pilots on board plus a team of Engineers and technicians to maintain the aircraft operating from the destroyer's small off deck particularly in rough Seas takes some skillful flying in such a confined space there's little margin for error they always say a boat landing is harder than what you do at home you're going to take a little more power out because you want to get on the deck really right then approach starts from a half mile out we're going to be at 200 feet and then we try to come in to place yourself basically right over the back of the flight deck about 40 feet and try to match how fast the ship is going so anywhere from you know five to ten knots somewhere in there is what we're usually looking at and then depending on the pitch and roll you're kind of coming in so with the with the RAS system that we have it's the probe underneath the Helo that helps secure us to the deck once you're over the deck that's what you're aiming for so it's the little uh postage stamp that you'll see on the back of the Destroyer flight deck that comes out so we're getting over top of that and then our air crewman in the back is conning us on over that so there's a hole in the center line of the Hilo that they actually open up and they're looking to try and line the uh the probe up with that and they basically call you on so you're hearing you know left one right one forward one F1 all that kind of stuff from them so really just fly down to the deck and then listen to their calls to get you down safe on Deck to Mark the James E Williams leadership role the other members of the task group Greek Turkish French and Italian ships periodically passed by practicing maneuvering in formation but also as Naval tradition dictates paying their respects to the flagship this summer this American warship will hand over to a British royal Navy destroyer until then know for her crew there's months of hard work and thousands of sea miles still to cover as they continue NATO's mission in the mid Simon Newton forces news aboard the USS James E Williams if you enjoyed this video don't forget to like And subscribe to our Channel

Channel: Forces News

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Keywords: Forces News, Forces TV, British Armed Forces, British, Forces, military, serving, military personnel, Ministry of Defence, British defence, British military

Id: Fw20sbCsFwU

Length: 14min 11sec (851 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 15 2023