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Chipping Aweigh For ages, the bane of sailors has been chipping and painting the hull of ships. It's a never-ending chore -- one that usually falls to first-term deck sailors.
A Pearl Harbor pilot project
frees sailors from the tedious chore
of repainting ships by hiring civiliansProject pumps $1.1 million in to economy
By Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-BulletinBut all that is changing. The Navy is conducting a $3.8 million pilot maintenance program at Pearl Harbor designed to free up sailors and allow civilians to tackle one of the most hated jobs aboard ship.
Petty Officer Christopher Hulse, a sonarman on the attack submarine USS La Jolla, said when he started working on submarines four years ago: "We did (painted) the whole boat. It took us five days straight. It was treacherous.
"A private contractor has more time to do the painting and preservation in the most correct way," said Hulse, 25, who has been in submarines since he enlisted.
Seaman Danny Lemons, a torpedoman on the La Jolla, added: "I am not a painter. If I don't have to have to do it, I can do other things."
"I think it's a wonderful program," said Dan Vilotti, vice president of the Chula Vista-based Corrosion Engineering Service.
For 24 years, Vilotti served in the Navy as a surface warfare officer. He believes that maybe the way the Navy maintained its fleet wasn't the most efficient way.
"I did it wrong," said Vilotti, who has had a team of 14 Hawaii civilian workers at Pearl Harbor's submarine base since April.
"We never trained sailors properly to be painters," he added. "They are trained to be electronic specialists ... But nowhere in the training pipeline do we train them in corrosion control.
"It (corrosion control) is more than just painting. Now the sailors no longer have to be crawling down in the bilge ports scraping and painting. We are using experts to do the job right, which will mean the fleet will be maintained better."
Even an admiral in charge of maintaining the Atlantic and Pacific Fleet realizes that chipping and painting are among the most deplorable jobs in the Navy.
"I don't think anybody's self-esteem was ever enhanced by chipping and painting," said Vice Adm. Pete Nanos, commander of the Naval Sea Systems Command. "It's an absolute burden."
The idea of using civilian workers to free sailors of this tedious chore was advanced by Navy Secretary Richard Danzig two years ago.
It was Rear Adm. Albert Konetzni, Pacific Fleet Submarine Force commander, who last year saw the wisdom of farming out the chipping and painting to the civilian sector. He made the decision to fund the pilot project out of his budget rather than wait for money from the regular ship maintenance pipeline.
"When he (Konetzni) took over in 1998, the retention rate of first-term sailors was about 28 percent," said Lt. Cmdr. Dave Werner, Pacific Submarine Force spokesman. "It is now approaching 60 percent and initiatives like this is why sailors are staying in."
Last year, the company sent painting crews to San Diego; Norfolk, Va.; Japan; Washington; Florida and Texas.
This year, the firm has three teams in San Diego, two at Norfolk and one in Washington state. Two others will be set up in Japan later this spring.
Under the pilot project, $16 million was spent last year with another $37 million projected for this year.
All 14 civilian maintenance workers, including the project manager, are island workers hired under a $1.1 million contract, according to Merritt Allen, company spokeswoman.
So far, workers have completed maintenance work on seven nuclear attack submarines berthed at Pearl Harbor and are finishing the USS Key West.
Last month, Corrpro began another $2.7 million contract to perform similar maintenance work on Pearl Harbor's fleet of 13 surface vessel warships.
It has been estimated that the task of chipping off old paint and rust and repainting a ship can keep 16 sailors busy full-time each year.
Capt. William Needham, Naval Sea Systems Command director of maintenance process development, said "sailors did not join the high-technology Navy to chip and grind failed coatings and apply the same coating that will fail again in as little as three months. The work is mind-numbing and frustrating."
"Rain or shine you work," maintains Sherwood "Woodie" Iokia. Project puts $1.1 million
into Hawaii’s economy"It's work I love," said the 1976 Nanakuli High School graduate, who spent four years trying to rid Aloha Stadium of rust.
Iokia, 43, is part of a 14-member team working on a $1.1 million Navy preservation pilot project designed to free up sailors from repainting and maintaining ships.
Greg Ishii, a 1979 Campbell High School graduate, said the "pay is good." But he believes that if this pilot program becomes part of the Navy maintenance system, salaries should be increased.
C. Curtis White, project manager for the Chula Vista-based Corrosion Engineering Services, said all of the $1.1 million set aside for this project will be spent here.
"Our trucks are rented locally, our supplies are bought from local people," said White, who retired here in 1982 after serving for 29 years in submarines.
The job his crew does is more than just chipping off the old paint and adding a new coat.
"We treat the metal surfaces and apply new high-tech coating systems. The coating systems are more wear- and corrosion-resistant. It's something that sailors were never trained to do. They just don't have the equipment."
The life of the protective coatings can last from five to 15 years, depending on variables such as its location on the ship and the type of punishment it receives, he said.
Gregg K. Kakesako, Star-Bulletin