What Do US Navy Sailors Do During Their Off Time?

as we all know defending a country is not an easy task doing so requires great power and with great power comes great responsibility as soon as the naval warship is deployed from its Port its crew members on board must work constantly and ceaselessly to ensure the ship is operational and ready to provide Naval support at all times on warships like destroyers Naval Sailors are required to be active for most hours of the day at some point however these Sailors are relieved of their daily chores and given the chance to take a breather what do these Sailors do during their invaluable spare time let's find out how they let off some steam it's a well-known fact that being a U.S Navy sailor is not an easy occupation it requires being isolated at sea for long periods and away from their loved ones as part of their initial training these Sailors are made to understand the hazards that come with being a Navy sailor while they're at Sea they can be exposed to bad weather drowning shipwrecks and many other dangers aboard the ship this part of their training helps them prepare and avoid such occupational hazards living on a warship is not as comfortable as you probably think the living quarters aboard a vessel are usually small and leave little to no privacy for crew members generally a sailor works for four hours and rests for eight hours every day in other cases a sailor can work for more hours than usual depending on their department and responsibilities an average sailor works for more than 40 hours every week at Sea to ensure a sailor doesn't become super exhausted while on duty the U.S Navy employs a rotation system whereby Sailors can move from one Department to another on deployment this helps sailors to always be battle ready at all times on a warship for most of these Sailors their off time is not really an off time they can use this opportunity to catch up on overdue tasks which they couldn't do during their work hours their off time is also a great period to perform basic chores such as laundry and cleaning their beds on some days there could be a military task going on like an at-sea replenishment or an aircraft coming in or leaving the flight deck at the end of it all on such days when it comes down to how many hours a sailor gets in his free time what should have been around 8 hours of rest becomes three hours at most Sailors do not abide by the standard 40 hours a week that most government officials are subjected to for U.S Navy sailors their work week is divided into three sections unlike Sundays being the start of their work week Thursday which is usually the day their ship is deployed is there day one and their work cycle repeats itself until the day they return to Port that means crew members do not have weekends off including Sundays perhaps this is why some Sailors lose track of time because a new day is almost the same as the previous over the years the US Navy has made several efforts to ensure its Sailors can be somewhat comfortable while risking their lives at Sea this is why some aircraft carriers have Starbucks Outlets really in a work environment where alcohol is prohibited what's the next best option other than a cup of hot steaming coffee to wash your tensions away a popular way U.S Navy sailors let off steam during their time at Sea is through steel Beach picnics pictures and videos from this event have sparked Envy even in the hearts of sailors and civilians on land during a steel Beach picnic the 5 000 Sailors living and working aboard an aircraft carrier come out to the ship's deck to have a good time still Beach picnics haven't always been a means for Sailors to have fun though the naval tradition was conceived by the British Navy as all hands to bathe back in the day British Naval warships were made out of wood hence there was little to no provision for Sailors to maintain their hygiene hence all hands to bathe was in order for crew members to bathe in an open sea now with sufficient provision made on modern day vessels jumping into the ocean has become a fun activity for Sailors even though it can be quite dangerous the average aircraft carrier has its deck 60 feet above sea level to eliminate or reduce the possibility of these Sailors sustaining injuries from diving into the sea aircraft carriers lower their Hangar Bay elevators to half that height therefore they can jump off the ship at a height of 30 feet even as a form of training these picnics not only help to boost the crew's morale but also Supply the sailors with some much needed vitamin D some Sailors are not allowed on the deck for months so coming out to the steel Beach picnic is the only time they can be under the sun the deck which is usually four to five acres of land becomes small when everyone aboard the ship comes out to play and Mingle various games such as card games Checkers football basketball volleyball and jump ropes are just a few of the activities enjoyed by the sailors on Deck others settle for reading a book or sunbathing and what's a picnic without food and drink the head kitchen staff member decides which food is to be prepared on the deck there are also coolers of ice cold beer made available for those Sailors to properly cool off that is how steel Beach picnics go on aircraft carriers it is a bit different on submarines the surface of a submarine is not only smaller in size in comparison to the deck of an aircraft carrier but it's also curved hence these Dimensions leave Sailors aboard a submarine with no other choice than to jump off the ship into the ocean after a long relaxing swim in the water they head back to the ship to enjoy a nice hot meal Sailors could also use their brakes to play video games with their peers get a tan or study for courses required for them to be promoted some Sailors would bring their gaming consoles aboard during deployment so that they can play games like Warcraft and Dungeons and Dragons with their fellow sailors they can also play these games with their loved ones back at home through the power of the internet other games like Checkers dominoes chess and card games are also frequently spotted with U.S sailors crew members could also use their off time to explore other Hobbies of theirs Sailors could enjoy writing reading singing and dancing as well sometime in the mid-1800s an association known as the American Siemens friends Society was created their goal was to provide Sailors with books and simultaneously boost the morale and social skills music has also proven to be a great way for crew members to pass time on ships some songs such as sea shanties help Sailors while working during their off time Sailors could gather round and sing songs or tell tales as a form of entertainment Sailors who are musically inclined unlike their peers would grab various musical instruments on board the ship and dive into the world of Folk Soul music to keep things Lively Sailors who are more artistic than others often prefer painting an artwork or carving wooden parts of the vessel painters among the sailors would make use of whatever they could find on Deck as their art resources the outcomes of such creative processes depend on the skills of such Sailors and how well they can manage the limited resources presented to them all U.S Navy sailors are entitled to taking a leave in total a sailor earns 30 paid vacation days each year to go on leave a crew member must complete what is known as a chit then this leave request form must be notarized by the next chain of command all that's left is for the sailors leave papers to be processed by the Personnel Department in special occasions crew members can borrow some days out of his not yet earned leave among Sailors this is known as going in the hole it's not usually supported but it still rarely happens Sailors can also go on Liberty calls during holidays and weekends crew members can spend a maximum of 72 hours based on the defined range of a vessel's local area a sailor can explore and must be able to return to the ship if called the board immediately some warships have set their local area to be a 50-mile range While others can go as high as 400 miles Navy sailors are not allowed to take both leave and Liberty calls at the same time Cinderella Liberty demands that Sailors return back to their vessels at a stipulated time Sailors who are three weeks into accession training known amongst Navy sailors as a school have access to on-base Liberty and they're under a strict curfew as they approach the end of the first three weeks and are going into the fourth week Sailors will start working towards off-base Liberty still under a curfew the conditions of these Liberty calls are determined by a crew member's commanding officer and it can differ from time to time it is without a doubt overwhelming to become a sailor in the United States Navy a recruit has to go through eight weeks of rigorous training and exercises at Navy boot camps before being enlisted into Navy a school despite all this the US Navy still receives a huge number of applications every year once enlisted recruits are deployed they must go through a harder time of learning the know-hows of being a sailor aboard any of the usn's warships while carrying out their daily routines they're allowed to take a break and enjoy other aspects of being at sea now you know what U.S Sailors do on their off time hope you found the video informative what do you think about the various hobbies that these Sailors enjoy to let some steam off are there any suggestions you would like to make let us all know about it in the comment section for more engaging content about the United States Navy its Sailors and its warships please subscribe to the channel also turn on the notification icon so you don't miss out on any updates thanks for staying tuned I'll see in the next video

Channel: Navy Media

Views: 3,068,817

Keywords: us navy, aircraft carrier, warship, navy, united states marine corps, sailor, aircraft, modern logistics, skipper, sea, us navy fleet, us navy ships, yvma productions, navy ships, sailors, us navy sailors, u.s. navy, naval academy, navy training, navy motivation, dark seas, fluctus, fluctus channel, dark footage, YVMA, united states navy, uss gerald ford aircraft carrier, aircraft carrier takeoff, aircraft carrier landing, military food, navy food, hms queen elizabeth

Id: NfCozy-RsWE

Length: 10min 17sec (617 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 18 2023