Our latest drill featured a trip to the USS JOHN L. HALL (FFG-32). The Navy warship, here for a weekend port visit, provided a fantastic training day where cadets from Massachusetts Bay Division learned basic naval skills from the ship’s crew.

During the visit, several crewmen gave the cadets the chance to actually use most of what they were shown. The cadets got to:

• Don firefighting gear and learn how to fight a fire (with a charged-up fire hose!)
• Visit the ship’s pilothouse (bridge) to see how the navigation team keeps the ship on course; and learn how to solve basic maneuvering board problems.
• Actually operate a surface-search radar in the combat information center (CIC).
• Learn how the ship’s engines and electrical systems are managed from the engineering spaces.

This training day was definitely hands-on, and we sincerely thank the sailors of USS HALL for setting up such a great opportunity.