ENS Peter Deneen 28 May

To catch y’all up to speed, we left San Francisco on April 5th. Before leaving I packed up my room and left it up to my roommates to find our new digs in San Fran. It was a sad goodbye, they hadn’t returned from Haiti until the first week of March and now I wouldn’t see them again until Christmas. Our group of friends would be transferring out this summer, so the times were a changin’ and SHERMAN was headed to the Arctic.

First stop was Indian Island, WA to pick up ammo, a beautiful spot right near Port Townsend. The weather was terrible the entire way up and would be just as bad on the way out, we didn’t have seas less than 15-feet for the first 10 days. We spent the night and left for Kodiak in the afternoon the following day. Since then we have moored in Dutch Harbor several times and once in Adak, an island at the far western edge of the Aleutian Chain. We have boarded eight vessels, including two high interest vessels in the Bering. We have seen the Arctic ice cap, blizzards, sunsets at 1 o'clock in the morning, line crossing ceremonies, injuries, good times, and hard times.

A large portion of the crew is on the verge of transferring to new units. Fast-paced learning is taking place at every level on board the ship as the urgency to be prepared for the departure of experienced crew members has been realized. Like I said, the times are changing for everyone on board. There are some good stories coming out of the Bering this spring, which will be shared on this blog in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for more from the 720 in the northern latitudes.