We learned quite a bit about life at sea today, but there were two highlights from my perspective: the arrival of the helicopters at about 2 p.m. and the “underway replenishment,” – or “unrep” in Navy shorthand – early in the evening. Two types of helicopters flew aboard from a base somewhere along the East Coast. No one could, or would, tell us specifically where the helos had been. The bigger helos, of which six are now onboard, are CH-53s. The Marines call them Sea Stallions. The smaller choppers are H60s. Known to the Navy as Seahawks, they are similar to Blackhawks in the Army. I and the other bloggers were escorted to “Vulture’s Row” above the flight deck to watch the helos land. We had to wear goggles and ear protection and were warned to secure any loose items because the Navy didn’t want us being sucked up into the blades and chopped into little pieces. That’s pretty much a direct quote. The unrep occurred at about 6 p.m. The USS Kearsarge pulled alongside the USS Laramie, a fuel and supply ship, to receive more materials for the journey. It was an amazing thing to watch -- these two massive ships coming together for a slow dance in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. A couple of bloggers observed that the ability of the U.S. Navy to restock ships at sea is precisely why we are superior to every other navy on the globe. They also said it’s why the United States doesn’t need to fear even rising global powers like China because they could never deliver the troops and supplies by sea for an effective assault on our country. I wouldn't go that far. Military hubris has been the fall of many a nation throughout history. But the unrep was still an impressive display of U.S. military strength. There are probably strategic reasons for having the helos come aboard and taking on more supplies for this mission hours after deployment, but there are also practical ones. A Navy communications officer said the ship couldn’t be fully loaded while at dock because it would have been too heavily loaded to depart.
