USS Little Rock in Port Colborne

[greenshirt]

Bunkering connection?

3-LittleRock-12-20-17w.jpg

thats the connection for her DFM (deisel fuel marine). During an underway replenishment, a steel line is managed across the two ships using one of those white anchors around that, in which a refueling line spans across. they ram it into that connection (the "D" shaped plate is covering the hole), there's a "clip" at the top to allow someone to quickly pull the connection in event of an emergency.

it sucked the entire time we did those, and we did them a lot off the coast of Africa, it was pretty neat the first one or two times. Unfortunately, they fire a small strand of line using a rifle to the ship, which about 20 guys haul in which is carrying a heavier "messenger" line, which hauls the steel "span wire" that the refueling rig rides in on. sometimes we wouldn't get the "slamming" action required to properly couple the rig and they'd have to let off and we'd have to try it several times.

[Guest]

The newly commissioned littoral combat ship USS Little Rock did not end up transiting the Welland Canal as planned on Wednesday December 20th. She apparently experienced some kind of mechanical problem after leaving Buffalo and ended up overnighting in Port Colborne instead.

Here she is tied up at Wharf 16 (the ex Canada Furnace dock) on the east side of the canal:

Stern shot of her and accompanying tug Ocean A.-Gauthier (the bedsheets on the tugs tire bumpers must be to prevent black marks). The white box truck on the right is a recently arrived diving support vehicle:

Bunkering connection?

Around dusk the Little Rock opened one of her transom doors and the local commercial diver went in the water from shore:

Sorry about the poor quality (night & handheld from across the canal), diver exiting the water after inspecting something:

You could barely hear the comms between the diver and divemaster across the canal from a speaker somewhere, but the words "bracket" and "nuts" kept coming up in the conversation (interspersed with the breathing sounds of the diver, just like on TV and in the movies!).

I left before and obvious repair work was done.

She appears to have got underway again down the canal early Thursday December 21st.