'Epic cruise': Inside Cruiser Normandy's round-the-world deployment

ABOARD THE CRUISER NORMANDY, ATLANTIC – The whiteboard in the chief’s mess aboard this ship guided-missile cruiser Normandy had a lot of notes on it the morning of Dec. 12, 2015.

But The two that stuck out: "One Epic Cruise" and "Best Crew Ever."  

The mess was full of activity. The ship was returning that day from its 279-day deployment and after steaming approximately 70,000 miles around the globe were only a few miles from home. as was the passage way outside. The whole ship was abuzz with activity and excitement because after a 279-day and 70,000 nautical mile circumnavigation of the globe — they were just a few short miles from home.

By any measure, the cruise was epic. They proved the value of the fleet's latest air-defense system and participated in months of strikes against ISIS. They made 11 port calls and saw places like Singapore and Leyte Gulf that Atlantic fleet ships rarely get to see. They escorted an aircraft carrier to its new homeport and in the process earned their right to boast of one of the fleet's longest deployments, and perhaps one of the last as fleet bosses work to keep cruises under seven-and-a-half months. And the ship returto deploy longestThe Aegis cruiser tied up in Norfolk on Dec. 12, just three days after the ship’s celebrated 26 years of service in the fleet. Until this most recent trip, the ship had never sailed across the Pacific Ocean — nor had it pulled into Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and rendered honors to the Arizona memorial.

Normandy crewmembers can now check those off the bucket list. Those experiences and more are now checked off the ship’s bucket list, as well as the lists of many of her crew.

The last night at sea was a time of reflection for Robertson and most of the crew. Not only were they in the last miles and hours of the nine-month 279-day deployment, they’d actually spent 313 days underway — 52 days shy of the entire year — underway.

Now, The Normandy has one of the most seasoned crews operating what's regarded as the fleet's most fearsome surface combatant. But that's a far cry from where the crew was a year and a half before.who who operate arguably the newest and most lethal weapons platform any Navy has ever seen. But that’s now and a far cry from from the freshly overhauled ship chock full of inexperienced sailors a year and a half before. 

"When the the CO took command in May 2014, he asked me what my areas of concern were," said Command Master Chief (SW) Gregory S. Carlson, the ship’s senior enlisted sailor. "I told him my greatest concern was the experience level of the crew because only about one quarter had ever deployed before."

When Robertson took over, the ship had recently completed an extended overhaul [XXXAwaiting dates from the ship/mf] long yard period at Norfolk’s BAE Systems shipyard. They’d been upgraded with the latest and greatest Aegis systemversion of the Aegis system — Baseline 9, as it’s called and once the’d trained up, they would be the first to deploy with it.

Carlson credited the ship's previous skipper for a well coordinated yard period, adding that the proof was how well systems worked "out of the box." said the foundation of the success was how well the yard period and how well everything worked nearly "out of the box" he said once it was done. That success, he said, was due to the diligence of the ship’s previous commanding officer Capt. Kevin Hill.

Robertson, who had been slated to command cruiser had initially been due to take over San Jacinto, was re-routed to the state-of-the-art Normandy because of his particular expertise was sent instead to Normandy because of his particular skill set — air defense. 

"Baseline 9 represents the newest Aegis software and hardware capability and one of the key key components of that is NIFC-CA — Navy Integrated Fire Control, Counter Air," Robertson said. "It’s a large increase in capabilities in order to defend ourselves and strike groups from anti-ship cruise missiles."

"We were bringing the NIFC-CA capability for the first time to an operational status and deployed operations — we had to have someone who is comfortable and confident in those types of operations and I fortunately had that skill set.," Robertson recalled. "The Navy rushing to get baseline 9 to deployment. Because "There was a lot riding on this deployment, a lot of firsts."

The latest air defense system wasn't the only thing Normandy had going for it — the ship was also set for a nine-month world cruise on which to test it. Robertson found out once reporting to Normandy that not only would he have all these new toys to play with, he’d have nine months and a round the world cruise to play with them.

They would be writing the book along the way. Not only were they training up as a ship for deployment, as the first with this new system, they were in some ways, writing the book along the way.

"We were forming the tactics and how this would be deployed in the future all along in our basic phase of training and through the intermediate and advanced phases of training," he said.

With a deployment in March looming on the horizon, their training schedule was very aggressive and Carlson said the crew responded, gaining confidence in themselves and their newly overhauled ship as learned their new ship’s capabilities. The only problem: the surface Navy's most hated inspection was smack dab in the middle of work-ups. 

But Robertson, his wardroom and chief’s mess formed a plan and executed it amid deployment preps. It was like double-duty. to prepare the ship for the inspection while still training for deployment.

The inspection was slated to begin on a Tuesday in November 2014. to begin on on a November Tuesday after a three-day weekend in November, 2014. [getting actual dates here] The Friday before, Robertson sat at the desk in his stateroom. Chiefs and department heads milled outside his door. and leading chief’s milled about awaiting the word.  

Would he make the crew and leadership work the three-day weekend to continue INSURV preps for INSURV?

It was a moment that he and members of his crew remember as a watershed for trust. Sure, the inspection wasn't perfect but they passed and that's what counted. became the watershed in trust both up and down the chain of command that cemented this rookie crew together and set it’s fate. 

Many said Robertson's vote of confidence before INSURV forged strong bonds. Football analogies fly around the Normandy crew when they discuss their command’s leadership and the incredible bond this crew developed while preparing for and making the round the world deployment.

"It’s trust and this crew feels it and reacts to it. It starts with the leadership —  and we’ve been blessed with the best with this captain, CMC[command master chief] and XO —  they simply trust us to do our jobs," said Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class Richard Bumgarner, who has now spent nearly half of his two years in the Navy underway on Normandy.

Robertson noted that it had a 7th Fleet feel — "which is what our capability was designed to counter," he added. "We did real well." From there, it just got better. Normandy’s crew continued to gel as a team and from the lowest to the highest the crew was developing a personal ownership of the ship’s mission and fate. 

At the end of the exercise, the officials conducting it said that Normandy was the most lethal cruiser they'd ever seen.  the Robertson said that those conducting the exercise told him at the end that Normandy was the most lethal cruiser they’d ever worked with. 

Quartermaster Seaman Darius Ringer arrived in Norfolk on March 6, holding orders for the Normandy. He was settling into his barracks room when he got a call from the ship. entered his Navy basic training Sept. 23, 2014. It was about the time Normandy’s crew finished their basic phase of  workups. 

Ringer hung up the phone and reality sunk in. the reality hit him, he said.

"At first I was really excited and then I got really scared," he recalled. He wasould be the last sailor to report to Normandy before they left.

His head was still spinning as the ship pulled away out to sea that Monday, March 9, and headed east.  from the pier on Monday, March 9, heading east. 

But just A few hundred feet away, Robertson was also thinking. He knew he was leaving port with a rookie crew — and that the regular season was about to begin. and though excited to take his ship to the real world, he knew he was leaving port with a rookie crew that just had an incredible training camp and the regular season was about to begin. 

Carlson said he and the skipper told the crew this was a historic cruise, worked the crew and talked to them every chance they could about the opportunity this cruise was for them and that it was historic and unlike nothing they’d experienced before — even if they’d been in the Navy a while.

"Before we deployed, I spoke at a ship’s gathering and told the crew that this was our time, reinforcing that each and every one of signed up for this and it’s now our time to embark on an amazing deployment to go off and do our nation’s business," Robertson said. "I revisited this during regular intervals during deployment — that we were doing the nations’s work, and doing a great job at it." 

The leaders wanted to build on the successes from work-ups as they headed east. But as the ship headed east, what both Robertson and Carlson were looking for was to keep the momentum of the successful workups and inspections going as they started the cruise. 

On March 21, after just 12 days underway, the ship was conducting routine flight operations while transiting the Straits of Gibraltar, when the helicopter aircrew spotted a small boatcraft acting suspiciously.

Following the craft, They saw the boat’s crew dumping large packages into the Mediterranean Sea. The ship launched its small boats and recovereding 17 packages from the water. They were identified as illegal drugs and were destroyed. which were tested. and confirmed to be illegal narcotics and were destroyed.

"This was a big early win for us and helped us continue the momentum we’d left with," Carlson said. "The crew really saw what they could do to make a difference in the world — that they all could have an impact," Carlson said.