Word: shipful
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...past 15 months, McGrath and her crew have been gearing up for their gulf mission. They spent the first few months fixing ailing systems and upgrading others. Then they moved on to training exercises, preparing the ship's departments--combat systems, navigation, engineering, operations--to work under battle conditions. In one exercise, McGrath trains her binoculars on an object in the distance. As a nondescript oil tanker comes into view, a dozen sailors cram into a small boat that's lowered over the Jarrett's port side. Armed and nervous, they're preparing to climb aboard the tanker (actually...
McGrath has also brought a more inclusive spirit to the Jarrett. Last August she invited the ship's five newly minted chief petty officers and their spouses to her home to celebrate their promotion into the senior enlisted ranks. She and her husband cooked on the outdoor grill. McGrath's meal wasn't in keeping with a long-standing Navy tradition: segregation between enlisted men and officers. Command Master Chief Mike Fulton, the Jarrett's senior enlisted man, says that night was the first time in his 24-year career--spread over 13 ships--he ever attended such a mixed...
...after 17 years as an officer, is now the children's primary caregiver. "It was the right thing to do," he says. "Her career was a little more successful than mine, and trying to have dual careers the higher up we went would have been difficult." Off the ship, McGrath spends most of her time with Nick and Clare. "Being the C.O. has given me flexibility to get time off, to get to the doctors' appointments," she says. "I took Nick to his first day of preschool," she says proudly. "He thinks everyone's mom works on a ship...
...says. In fact, the only change her presence required was to remove the spring-loaded, always-up toilet seat in her cabin's head. The Navy insists that McGrath is under no special scrutiny because of her gender. In fact, she will relinquish her command of the ship a month before the mission ends, simply because the Navy's unrelenting personnel cycle demands...
...probably best not to think about the flock of satellites that will help guide the great sailing ship being built in Mystic, Conn. Construct a 19th century boat according to 19th century plans, equip it with 5,200 sq. ft. of 19th century-style sails, and you'd like to think its crew will be steering by the stars, not by some 21st century machines flying high overhead...