Sailors Show Off Ships, Skills During 2nd Day Of Fleet Week
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FT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - On the second day of Fleet Week, more than 1500 sailors, marines, and Coast Guardsmen had the chance to showcase what they do.
"It's a time for us to give back to the community, to be able to spend time with everyone who's eager to come to visit us, learn about the Navy, learn about our mission," said Independent Duty Corpsman Luis Figueroa.
Executive Officer Anthony James is number two in command of what he says is one of the most advanced ships he's ever worked on, the U.S.S Detroit. It's one of two U.S. Navy ships and three Coast Guard Cutters that sailed into Port Everglades on Monday.
It marked a rare opportunity for the public to get an inside look at what a ship like that can do, able to reconfigured for different missions, it's ready now for surface warfare.
"You'd have to see how fast and agile this ship is but as you can see it has a capable combat system to engage aircraft, small boat, anything we need to do to protect ourselves and ships around us," said James.
Part of the spectacle on Tuesday was fire. Sailors from the Navy and Coast Guard took part in the 16th annual Damage Control Olympics, a series of timed training exercises which help hone their skills for real shipboard emergencies including extinguishing real flames onboard a mock ship.
By Rielle Creighton