A time to catch up with DOLORES CHOUEST
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By Christine Mahoney, JO2(SW) US Navy
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 NAVY BASE
FREDERIKSHAVN, DENMARK – With the first full week of Sorbet Royal 2002 almost complete, the U.S. ship
has returned to the Navy base for a day. Capt. Troy Pappas and crew are spending the day preparing for the next cycle of the exercise.
feels the first week went very well. “The ship’s crew and the U.S. Navy’s Deep Submergence Unit (DSU) have worked very well together. The weather has been alright for the most part,” he said. “There have been a couple of periods of some rough waters, but nothing the ship cannot handle.”
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Capt. Pappas
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Mutual respect and teamwork has been the ingredient that keeps the crew of the DOLORES and the DSU team together during this evolution. “Since the divers have come aboard, both sides of the house have come together working like one crew,” said Pappas. “
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The ship has been operating non-stop during the exercise. The only night DOLORES returned to the Navy base did so to disembark a few personnel. Working at night is not a challenge for the ship. “Of course there is a difference between working during the day hours than night hours,” said Pappas. “However, the ship has plenty of high-powered lights and so does the dive equipment. With that added light at night, the divers don’t miss a minute of work.”While spending the day pier side at the Navy base, Pappas worked with a local Danish agent and the Navy base to make certain that the ship’s needs are met. “The Navy base has been outstanding in providing DOLORES with support during the exercise,” said Pappas. “One of the things they did for us is getting phone lines out to the ship. This has provided us the means to keep our communications going with the home office and so forth. I have also been working with a Danish agent in getting supplies to the ship.” |
DSU team member Machinist Mate(SS) First Class Sean Gordon said working on the DOLORES has been a good experience. “I wanted to spend some time on the ship before we began the exercise. Since the DSU would be working onboard the DOLORES, I wanted to see how this operation would work,” said Gordon. “I embarked onboard to sail the 30 day trip from Little Creek, Va. to
Frederikshavn. I got to see how our partnership would work and knew the DSU would be in good hands.”
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Pappas believes SOR02 is a great working example of interoperability. “Exercises of this nature take a lot of time and effort in planning and coordinating,” he said. “What looks great on paper sometimes cannot work in a real world environment. This exercise proves just the opposite that all the various nations can come together and work to achieve a common goal. I am impressed that we have established the fact that this type of situation can work.”DOLORES is scheduled to head back to Kattegat this evening to begin the next phase of SOR02. |
