Long a skipper’s perk, the gig is going away

[unhappycamper]

Sailors aboard the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt use a boat and aircraft crane to lift the captain's gig from Turkish waters after a port visit in Marmaris, Turkey in 2006. Gigs are being phased out on the Navy's 11 aircraft carriers.


Long a skipper’s perk, the gig is going away
By Philip Ewing - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Feb 11, 2008 6:58:26 EST

Carrier skippers are losing a traditional status symbol under a Navy directive issued in January. The captain’s gig, the motorboat set aside to ferry commanding officers to shore when their ships are anchored away from land, is being phased out of the fleet.

Under a directive issued by Naval Air Forces, all 11 carriers will be required to turn in their captain’s gigs before June 30, 2009. “Removal of the captain’s gig will reduce maintenance costs and free up valuable hangar bay space,” the message reads.

Admiral’s barges, another variety of boat traditionally carried aboard carriers, aren’t affected by the gig withdrawal. And captain’s gigs will stay aboard the amphibious assault ships and other surface ships that now carry them, said Cmdr. Jane Campbell, spokeswoman for Naval Surface Forces.

So far, three carriers — the Enterprise, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Carl Vinson — have turned in their boats, said Capt. Ted Carter, the Vinson’s commanding officer and head of the Navy’s Carrier Readiness Team. All three carriers are in port or being overhauled.

The motorboats, some of which have served as long as their host carriers and been continually refurbished, will go into storage until the Navy decides what to do with them.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/02/navy_captgigs_080210w/

[MADem]

1. Wow. That....SUCKS. It's dumb, cheap, and VERY shortshighted, too.

There isn't much in the way of fun doing a CO tour on a carrier, and that IS a nice perk. Also, the gig does "impress the locals" and that whole "showing the flag" business IS serious business.

Penny wise, and pound foolish. I'me with VADM Hernandez on this issue:

But at least one former carrier skipper said removing the gigs sent a double-message, not just about new Navy economizing but also about U.S. sea power.

“A gig is not simply for transporting the captain back and forth to the ship. When our ships are in port overseas part of their mission is to show the flag, to increase understanding of the capabilities of our Navy, to generate respect and cooperation,” said retired Vice Adm. Diego Hernandez, former captain of the carrier John F. Kennedy. “Piling distinguished visitors to an aircraft carrier in the local rented ferry will not quite measure up to what the U S Navy should be able to offer.”

What’s more, the captain’s gig is a worthwhile perk for a carrier skipper, Hernandez said, “whose responsibilities are incomprehensible for officers who have not commanded one, and whose compensation is, to put it mildly, modest.”