USS John S. McCain prepares for upcoming inspection during underway
YOKOSUKA, Japan – The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) prepared for an upcoming Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV) during a day-long underway in Tokyo Bay Feb. 27.
Established in 1868 under Adm. David Farragut, INSURV was created by Congress to ensure that the ships of the U.S. Navy are properly equipped for prompt, reliable, sustained mission readiness at sea.
“INSURV, and the pre-inspections associated with INSURV, is designed to ensure that all ships in the fleet are operating as originally designed,” said Ensign Jimmy A. Stokes, McCain’s communications officer. “If any system is faulty, INSURV is designed to find it out and have it fixed - ensuring mission readiness.”
The ship’s schedule of events, to prepare for the upcoming inspection, included an anchor drop test, a full-power engineering demonstration, a MT 51 (5" .54 caliber gun) practice fire, two Close-In Weapon System practice fires, a detect-to-engage demonstration, an Electronic Plant Control Console demonstration, and many other small scale material checks.
The INSURV board sends out inspection teams at intervals not to exceed 60 months per naval ship. These teams evaluate a ship's readiness to conduct combat operations at sea, through an extensive system of checks on installed equipment.
The underway afforded the ship the opportunity to note any discrepancies at the destroyer squadron level with numerous members of Commander Destroyer Squadron 15 embarked.
“Today's underway is designed to prepare the ship for the fast paced, detail oriented aspects of the actual INSURV underway,” said Stokes. “Though the crew will likely be exhausted from the sheer amount of work that goes into making days like this work, it is truly a valuable opportunity that not all ships are afforded.”
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