Check Out How Rusty And Battered USS Stout Looks After Spending A Record 215 Days At Sea

Updated Nov 27, 2020 6:12 PM EST

(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jason Pastrick / Released)

It’s amazing what the crew of the Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Stout (DDG-55) has pulled off. In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic that swept the world, impacting their fellow sailors on other ships in unprecedented ways , Stout sailed on… And on… And on . This ship stayed at sea for a whopping 215 days straight and she has the wear and tear to show for it. The fighting ship looks like a set from a dystopian naval thriller, streaked in rust, her hull dinged and battered from the hard deployment.

The ship didn’t pull into a single port between early March and her arrival in Rota, Spain on October 3rd. In that period of time, she spent her time escorting ships, including Wasp class amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD-5) and the Nimitz class aircraft carriers USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) and USS Nimitz (CVN-68), as well as executing a slew of other tasks in the 2nd, 5th and 6th Fleets’ areas of responsibilities. In that time, Stout executed three dozen consecutive underway replenishment cycles and executed maintenance that is usually done in port, while remaining at sea. The Navy stated the following in a release :

“As COVID-19 made frequent port visits unsafe, Stout competed the first modern Mid-Deployment Voyage Repair (MDVR) period at sea, spending a week executing scheduled maintenance and preservation to maintain mission readiness while deployed. Throughout the deployment, Stout’s technicians executed depot-level repairs on vital engineering and combat systems equipment.”

Stout finally home, her bridge and radar arrays streaked in rust., U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jason Pastrick

The previous record for consecutive days at sea was held by the Nimitz class supercarrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Ticonderoga class cruiser USS San Jacinto, both of which Stout supported on her cruise. Those ships had spent 206 days at sea due to the same circumstances. Prior to that, the record was 160 days.

The weathered destroyer finally pulled into Naval Station Norfolk on October 11th, 2020, ending her historic deployment. She hadn’t been home since mid-January and traveled over 60,000 miles on her extended voyage.

So, how did the crew stay sane bottled up for hundreds of days on a warship out at sea? The Navy writes:

“During that period the ship conducted morale events, like swim calls and steel beach picnics … To allow the crew time to relax and reenergize, they had a ‘rest & reset’ period at sea.”

A for how rough the ship looks, we asked our friend, Navy veteran, Defense News reporter , and the king of ‘running rust’ commentary, David Larter, his thoughts:

“She looks like she was put through the wringer. Look, they haven’t been in port, haven’t been able to do much topside preservation, I imagine. She gets a pass. But these long deployments and 208-day underways are going to take a toll on these ships inside and out. It’s honestly impressive they kept a quarter-century old ship in running form that long! But the Navy will have to pay the piper. This is unsustainable.”

He’s absolutely right when it comes to the sustainability of a fleet being pushed to the edge and beyond when it comes to deployments and operations tempo. This is especially relevant considering the service’s high ambitions of maintaining a future fleet of 500 ships , a goal that sits in stark contrast to the number and readiness of support and maintenance facilities available to maintain even the aging fleet the Navy already has, which is under 300 ships.

It also speaks to the retention of sailors that are being asked to work harder and longer , and, in these latest cases, seeing little of the world in the process. Regardless of the technology available today, the Navy still runs largely on raw manpower. Pushing sailors to the brink over and over again to contend with rising threats , the need to be seemingly everywhere, and now COVID-19, could have major readiness implications down the line.

Regardless, Stout’s crew deserves an extremely well-earned rest—on land. By the looks of it, so does the 26-year-old ship.

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jason Pastrick

Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com

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更新于美国东部时间2020年11月27日下午6:12

（美国海军一级大众传播专家杰森·帕斯特里克拍摄/发布）

阿利·伯克级驱逐舰“斯托特”号（DDG-55）的官兵们所取得的成就令人惊叹。面对席卷全球、对其他舰艇上的水兵造成前所未有的影响的新冠疫情，“斯托特”号依然坚持航行……而且是持续航行……持续航行。这艘军舰连续在海上待了整整215天，舰体也因此伤痕累累。这艘战舰锈迹斑斑，船体因长期艰苦部署而伤痕累累，看起来就像一部反乌托邦海军惊悚片的布景。

从3月初到10月3日抵达西班牙罗塔港，这艘军舰没有停靠过任何一个港口。在此期间，她主要负责护航，包括黄蜂级两栖攻击舰“巴丹”号（LHD-5）和尼米兹级航空母舰“德怀特·D·艾森豪威尔”号（CVN-69）和“尼米兹”号（CVN-68），并在第二、第五和第六舰队的责任区内执行了一系列其他任务。在此期间，“斯托特”号连续完成了36次海上补给循环，并在海上完成了通常在港口进行的维护工作。海军在一份声明中表示：

“由于新冠疫情导致频繁的港口访问不安全，斯托特号在海上完成了首次现代化的中期部署航次维修（MDVR）周期，用一周时间执行计划内的维护和保养工作，以保持部署期间的任务准备状态。在整个部署期间，斯托特号的技术人员对重要的工程和作战系统设备进行了基地级维修。”

“斯托特”号终于回家了，舰桥和雷达阵列锈迹斑斑。（美国海军一级大众传播专家杰森·帕斯特里克摄）

此前连续海上航行天数的纪录保持者是尼米兹级超级航母“德怀特·D·艾森豪威尔”号和提康德罗加级巡洋舰“圣哈辛托”号，斯托特号此次巡航也为这两艘舰艇提供了支援。由于同样的原因，这两艘舰艇在海上航行了206天。在此之前，纪录是160天。

这艘饱经风霜的驱逐舰终于在2020年10月11日驶入诺福克海军基地，结束了其历史性的部署。自1月中旬以来，她就没回过家，在这段漫长的航程中航行了超过6万英里。

那么，这些船员在海上战舰上被封闭数百天，是如何保持理智的呢？海军方面写道：

“在那段时间里，船上组织了各种鼓舞士气的活动，比如游泳集结和沙滩野餐……为了让船员们有时间放松和恢复精力，他们在海上进行了一次‘休息和调整’。”

至于这艘船看起来有多破旧，我们询问了我们的朋友、海军退伍老兵、国防新闻记者、以及“锈迹斑斑”评论之王大卫·拉特尔的看法：

“她看起来像是饱经风霜。你看，他们一直没进港，估计也没怎么进行甲板维护保养。所以她情有可原。但这种长时间的部署和长达208天的航行，肯定会对这些舰艇的内外造成损害。说实话，他们能让一艘服役25年的舰艇保持良好的运行状态这么久，真是令人印象深刻！但海军终究要为此付出代价。这种状况是不可持续的。”

他关于舰队在部署和作战节奏方面被推向极限甚至超越极限所带来的可持续性问题的观点完全正确。考虑到海军雄心勃勃地计划未来维持一支500艘舰艇的舰队，这一点尤其值得关注。然而，海军现有的后勤保障和维护设施的数量和可用性，甚至连目前不足300艘的老旧舰队都难以维护，这与上述目标形成了鲜明的对比。

这也反映了水兵们被要求更加努力、长时间工作，而且在最近的这些案例中，他们几乎没有时间去欣赏外面的世界，这使得水兵们的留任率面临严峻挑战。尽管如今科技日新月异，海军的运转仍然主要依赖于人力。为了应对日益严峻的威胁，水兵们一次又一次地被推向极限，他们似乎需要无处不在地执行任务，而现在又面临新冠疫情的挑战，这可能会在未来对海军的战备能力产生重大影响。

无论如何，斯托特号的船员们理应在陆地上好好休息一下。看起来，这艘服役了26年的船也需要好好休息了。

美国海军一级大众传播专家杰森·帕斯特里克拍摄

联系作者：Tyler@thedrive.com

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