Home Goes The Warrior

by Jeff Noonan

  Soon Charlie returned, apologized, and then went on as if there had been no break in his thought pattern. “When a high-priority item ordered by the shop is delivered, we have it sent directly from the source to the shop planner who ordered it. He does the receipt inspection and sends the receipt acknowledgement over to us. That way we have a closed loop on the procurement without having to delay the delivery here in our warehouses. Basically, we’re only involved with shop procurements to the extent that we take their requirement, find the material’s source, and send out the orders.”

  He again paused, and Lee took advantage of the respite to ask, “Who pays for the item in this case?”

  “We do, via the contracts used to procure the item. If it’s a General Service Administration contract, we send the money to GSA. If it’s a contract issued by our Navy regional contracting center, we give the money to them. In the case of a few local retailer contractors, we hold the contracts here in the supply department and we pay them directly. It all depends on which contract is used to get the part.”

  A thought dawned on Lee. “Last night Captain Matyas introduced me to a guy named Rick Burley. Is he one of your retail vendors?”

  Charlie laughed easily. “You must have been in the officers’ club. I think those two live there. But, in answer to your question, yes. Burley is one of our biggest retailers. His is an interesting story. He was a Navy supply corps lieutenant who was stationed here a few years ago. But he got a bright idea and got out of the Navy to start a business.”

  “He saw that the Navy was giving old WW2 ships to other countries, but those countries were having trouble getting repair parts for those old ships. There’s a lot of old parts on those ships that can’t be found anywhere these days. The ships were given to countries like Turkey, Pakistan, Greece, Taiwan, and the Philippines, Naturally, those countries needed repair parts. At the same time, our Navy was scrapping a lot of those old ships, just turning them into razor blades. So Burley went to the scrapping shipyards and bought up all kinds of used parts and some larger equipment. He bought the parts for the price of their bulk metal, as long as his employees did the work of removing and shipping the stuff. But he only bought the things that were no longer supported by our factories or our Navy. He cornered the market on those old, obsolete pieces of junk and then just waited. He warehoused them and did some repairs when necessary on them. Then, when those countries, or in a few instances our country, needed these parts, they had to buy from him at his price. He got rich by buying and selling old Navy junk.”

  “But Burley is a shrewd customer. He knew that he’d eventually run out of junk to sell. So he used the money to put together a team of people who are experts at finding Navy repair parts in a hurry. Soon he was helping us with the acquisition of badly needed repair parts. He could respond a lot faster than the Navy bureaucracy in many cases, so we contracted with his outfit to get emergency parts and expedite their delivery. That helped us get ships overhauled on time, and it made him even richer. Over the years, he’s managed to get contracts with both GSA and us. Now we use his operation for a variety of things, but mostly the procurement of items where we need a real fast response. He gets the stuff faster than we can and, as a result, he’s become one of our biggest suppliers.”

  Halfway through this, Charlie’s subordinate appeared in the doorway with another question. Again Charlie went outside and talked to him. When he came back, Charlie remarked, “I don’t know what’s gotten into that guy today. He’s been doing this work for years, and now all the sudden he needs guidance for every little thing he does. I’ll never figure people out.”

  The two men talked about the procurement process for another hour. Then Charlie took Lee for a tour of the warehouse, after which he used some actual procurements to show Lee the steps his staff went through to procure an item, receive it, and send it on to the shop. Finally, Lee left the supply center and returned to his office, lost in thought.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN - PRODUCTION SHOPS

  he next day Lee reported to the shipyard’s production officer for the final phase of his indoctrination. The production officer, Captain Bob Sellick, was responsible for managing the shops that accomplished all of the actual shipboard work in the shipyard. Captain Sellick had a staff of twelve Navy Officers, known in the shipyard as ship superintendents, who were assigned to manage this work. They, in turn, were assisted by experienced shipyard workers known as progressmen. Each ship superintendent was assigned a ship overhaul to supervise and at least one progressman helped him with his ship. If the ship overhaul was particularly complex, an assistant ship superintendent or additional progressmen could be assigned.

  Lee found Captain Sellick to be a very competent individual, somewhat older than the other captains Lee had met here. He had a gruff, friendly, demeanor that Lee liked immediately. As soon as Lee walked into his office, the captain put aside the papers he’s been working on and asked him to sit. Soon the two were talking easily, with the captain reminiscing about his days aboard ship and Lee bringing him up to speed on the changes that had taken place in the fleet since the captain had served there. The captain was going to be retiring in another few months and was going home to Idaho, so the two talked some about Lee’s time in Montana as well.

  Finally, the captain became serious. “I guess that I’d better bring you up to speed on the production department. I could probably talk for a week about it and all of the personalities and idiosyncrasies that make my job interesting. But I’ve only got you for a day, so we’d better get started.” He then proceeded to outline his general duties and explained the role of the ship superintendents. Lee was generally familiar with these, so this part of the talk went by rapidly. Then the captain began talking about the shops and how they functioned. Lee hadn’t been exposed to this structure before, although he had an idea about the work that was accomplished by these groups. When he had been in Bath, Maine, the shipyard had been a privately owned shipyard and its’ organization had been much different. Philadelphia was a government-owned shipyard with an organization completely new to him, so he listened carefully.

  The captain began his explanation by bringing up Lee’s interface the previous week with Ed Carvell and Vince Askew. “Last week you had your run-in with Carvell and Askew. Carvell is what we call a group superintendent. He is in charge of two shops, the electrical shop and the electronics shop. Askew works for him as the head of the electronics shop.”

  Captain Sellick paused there before continuing. “That pair is a real example of classic government shipyard personalities. Ed Carvell is one of the finest people I’ve ever known. He’s totally dedicated to his job and will move heaven and earth to make sure the sailors get a ship that can fight a war when we’re done with it. Vince Askew is his polar opposite. He’s a sleazy S.O.B. who couldn’t care less how the work is done, as long as the ship doesn’t interfere with his life and it eventually gets out of his way by sailing down the river. He doesn’t bother to even learn what’s happening aboard ship. He’d rather cover up problems than deal with them. He’s also a little Hitler to the people who work for him. Every production officer in the past fifteen years has tried to get rid of him, but none of us have succeeded. He is just too sly to be caught doing anything big enough to let us fire or demote him and his troops are too afraid of him to blow any whistles. Thank God Ed sees the problem and works around him.”

  Lee smiled at this. “That explains why Ed asked Tim and me to brief him every week.” The captain smiled and nodded. Then he continued with the explanation of his production organization.

  “In the production department, the shop heads report to their group superintendent who, in turn, report to me. The two biggest and most complex groups are the electrical/electronics group and the machinery group. You’re already familiar with Ed’s group. The machinery group works fairly closely with them. It has an inside machine shop and an outside machine shop. The inside shop is exactly what the name implies, a huge machine shop that fabri
cates all kinds of things. The outside machine shop is involved with the repair, installation, and testing of all kinds of shipboard machinery. They’re responsible for gun mounts and missile launchers as well as propulsion and auxiliary machinery, so they’re another group that the combat systems office works with regularly. The machinery group and the electrical / electronic group are the ones that you’ll work with the most.”

  Captain Sellick was using a pointer and a wall-mounted organization chart as he talked. He moved it around to indicate other shops and work groups. “There’s also the boilermaker and pipefitter group; the rigger, woodworker and painter group; and the shipfitter, forge, and sheetmetal group. I can give you more detail on these, but I don’t think you will have much contact with them in your job here. Do you have any questions about them?”

  Lee thought for a minute about this. He hated to ignore anything that might impact the investigation he was here to accomplish. But he really couldn’t think of a legitimate reason for him to be overly interested in these peripheral shops, so he decided to go along with the captain’s thought pattern for now.

  “Only one, Captain. Why the woodworking shop? I didn’t think there was any wood left on ships now-a-days.”

  The captain chuckled. “You’d be surprised, Lee. Some of these ships have admirals quarters with wood paneling, even though the Navy has been trying to get rid of it for years. Plus, there are still teak decks on some of the battleships and cruisers. The shop also refurbishes conference tables and the like. But, in honesty, there’s only a token staff in the woodworking shop. They mostly produce ships’ plaques, and things like that.”

  The two talked for a few minutes more and then the captain introduced Lee to his senior, progressman, an older man named Gus Amato who had spent his life working in the shops before being promoted to progressman. The remainder of the day was to be devoted to a tour of the various shops, with Gus as the tour guide.

  Lee and Gus started the tour by stopping by a mobile sandwich truck for lunch. Lee followed the lead set by the progressman, choosing what Gus called a South Philly Hoagie. It was the same sandwich that Lee had known before as a “submarine sandwich,” but Gus was very pleased that Lee had chosen it. Soon Gus was treating Lee as if they were the oldest of friends. Lee found himself really enjoying the older man’s company.

  After consuming the hoagies, the two proceeded to tour the various shops. Lee found himself amazed at the size and scope of the shop capabilities. This was a far larger operation than the one he had been familiar with in Maine.

  The first shop that Gus brought Lee to was the boiler and sheetmetal shop. After they had toured the shop, Lee asked Gus to show him where the shop planner worked. Gus looked at him quizzically, but led him to a small room off to the side of the huge shop building. There he introduced Lee to the shop planner.

  Lee asked the planner to explain his work. “I was just over in the planning and supply departments and I’m curious as to how you interface with them. The way they tell it, they do everything themselves, so I couldn’t figure out what a shop planner does.” He said it with a smile that told the older planner that he had not been convinced by the explanations he’d heard previously.

  The shop planner bit on Lee’s lead immediately and scoffed at the comment. “Of course those assholes would tell you that. They think their shit don’t stink. But the truth is that the shop people do more material identification and ordering than either planning or supply do. We find all of their mistakes and fix them If we weren’t out here fixing things, these ships would never get done.” He was proud of his work and not afraid to let that fact be known

  Lee nodded and asked, “Can you show me what it is you do when you find that you need to order something?”

  The older man grunted in the affirmative and pulled out a stack of papers. “The guys on the floor or out on the ships find out they need something. They tell me, and I do the research to find the item’s stock number and all that. I fill out a requisition and send it over to the planning department. They fund it and forward it over to the supply department. If it’s an emergency procurement, I send it directly to supply, with a copy to planning. The supply people locate the manufacturing source and order the material. When the item comes in, it usually comes directly out here, and I check it and sign for it. I let planning and supply know that I got the item and it’s in good shape. Then I let the shop people know that they can come and get it. That’s about it.”

  Lee thanked the man. “I knew that there was more to the story than I’d been told.”

  Lee had an easy, friendly way about him that left people thinking that he really cared about them. That manner helped a lot out here in the shops, as it had in Maine. He had long ago discovered that often Navy officers seemed aloof to the people that worked in the shops. These workers seemed to truly appreciate it when an officer took the time to talk to them and actually cared about what they did or said.

  Lee turned to leave, but then he had another thought and turned back to the man. “Do you ever identify the source that you want the material item to be bought from?”

  The man shook his head. “That’s supply’s job. I could probably do it, ‘cause most of my stuff comes from a standard source. But if I told them to go get it there, they’d raise hell with me. Besides, the companies that provide this stuff come and go. I could be asking them to go to a company that’s out of business or merged and changed its name or something like that. I don’t have all that info out here in the shop. Nope, we don’t do that out here. That’s their job.”

  Lee thanked him and led Gus out of the shop.

  The next building that Gus led him to was the huge one that held the machinery group. Lee was totally impressed with its capabilities, especially when he went into the building’s ordnance shop and saw two big five-inch shipboard gun mounts being assembled on the shop floor. Gus explained that they’d been in bad shape when their ship had come into the shipyard, so they’d been removed, disassembled and their parts replaced or machined. Now they were being re-assembled. It was a very impressive job and Lee was careful to let the workers on the floor see his admiration. Soon, he had a group of workers showing him all of their recent work.

  When they got a break, Gus whispered to Lee, “You sure have a way with people, my friend.”

  When they were winding down on the floor, Lee asked one of the workers on the floor to show him where the shop planner’s office was located. With Gus following, Lee soon found himself talking to the machinery shop planner. After the introductions were done, Lee told him that he was curious about what shop planners did for a living. “I was just over in the planning and supply departments and I’m curious as to how you interface with them. The way they tell it, they do everything themselves, so I couldn’t figure out what a shop planner does.” Gus looked at him in astonishment. It was the same thing he had asked the other shop planner. It was even said with the same charmingly self-depreciating smile.

  The shop planner, a much younger man than the last one, launched into a description of his job that was almost identical to what they had just heard in the sheetmetal shop. Gus, bored, sat down in an office chair and started leafing through a magazine lying on the desk.

  Finally, the planner’s description came to an end and Lee thanked him. Turning to Gus, lee said, “Gus, enough with the girly magazine. Let’s get out of the way here.” Gus grinned and was rising to leave when he heard Lee ask the shop planner, “By the way, I do have another question that I just thought of. Do you ever identify the manufacturer or the source that you want the material item to be bought from?” Gus gaped at him. Once again, it was the same question they had just heard the answer to from the other planner. But this time the answer was not the same!

  “Of course I tell them where to get it. If I leave it up to P&E or supply, I’d never get the part I need when I need it. I tell them the exact source so they don’t have to think. That way I actually get it when I need it.” Lee nodded and again th
anked the man. He and Gus left the shop.

  When they were outside, Gus stopped Lee and asked the question that had been burning in his throat. “What the hell is the story with you and these shop planners? I’ve never even seen a Navy officer talk to one of them before and you’re treating them as if they’re the fonts of all knowledge.”

  Lee laughed easily. “Aw, no big deal, Gus. I just heard two different stories from the supply people and I was trying to find out the truth about what these guys out here on the waterfront actually do for a living. It turns out that both the stories I heard were true. The shops just operate differently.” He was very happy when Gus seemed to buy this explanation.

  That afternoon, Lee went through all of the shipyard shops, with Gus leading the way. By the time the day was done, he was totally exhausted. It seemed like he had met about a thousand people. But, most importantly, he had talked to most of the shop planners.

  It was almost six in the evening. The bearded man was wearing a long apron and was tending bar for three of his Skimmer associates. The four were idly talking in the Skimmers’ upstairs bar when two more Skimmers arrived. They were obviously very agitated about something. Looking around to make sure no one was here except for the Skimmers themselves, one of the men opened with, “Boss, we got a problem. That Navy guy that you warned us about was in both of our shops today, asking questions. He was actually questioning us back in our shop planning areas. This ain’t normal Navy business. I don’t think he’s a real Navy guy.”

  The bearded man nodded. “I was afraid of that. He was talking about procurement sources and that kind of stuff yesterday over in supply. He was overheard asking questions about me and my operation. If he’s out on the waterfront getting in your knickers today, he’s getting too close. It’s time to take care of him.”