Navigation Seamanship Shiphandling Trainer (NSST) on board Naval Station Everett is offering a group of USS Shoup (DDG 86) junior officers a chance to drive Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, the workhorse of the surface fleet, without actually risking the $2 billion warship.
Nicknamed “USS Puget Sound”, NSST began operations Dec. 15, 2006 to simulate anything from Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats (RHIB) to an aircraft carrier.
The Puget Sound’s commanding officer and instructor for this week is retired Coast Guard Capt. Tony Ford, whose experience with ships ranges from Coast Guard ice breakers near the Antarctic continent to fish processing vessels off the stormy coast of Alaska.
[mappress] Press Release, October 09, 2014; Image: US Navy