Port Liberty on Deployment

[GANuke]

Hey everyone,

First of all, I would like to thank everyone for all of the invaluable information that I have found on this site that i could not find anywhere else.  You guys are awesome!

I just have a quick question about what life for a nuke officer is like at the various ports while on deployment.  I have heard and read everything from "you get the same liberty as everyone else" to "you have to stay on the boat the entire time."  So I was just hoping for some clarification about that.

Just for some background, I have just finished my application packet to NUPOC, and am waiting to hear about an interview.  Wish me luck!  And thanks in advance for any insight you can offer!

[sovbob]

Take a look here
http://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php/topic,24609.0.html

[haverty]

The officers had a different liberty rotation then the enlisted personnel, but all khaki's were expected to put in "overtime" (I say that gingerly!) on pull in and pull out days.

The officer's appeared to stand a day and half of duty (Getting off ~1200 the next day) on liberty ports. This is on a carrier for what it's worth.

[MMM]

On the carriers I've been on, the only reason officers might not leave until later is because they had work to do. Officially, they have the same duty rotation as us lowly blue shirts, and very rarely have I seen them leave much later than the rest of us. On pull in days, expect to lose about 3-4 hours of liberty getting plants set up while the rest of the ship leaves.

On my last ship, we changed the duty section turn over times to a little before noon, that way guys with overnight liberty could actually enjoy it.

[Yaeger]

Here's the answer you want: It depends.

The Navy doesn't have to give you time off the ship when you pull into a port. I know next to nothing about how a carrier's liberty policy works but a sub is pretty simple to understand.

- In port rotations generally stayed the same as at-sea watch sections, with 4-section chiefs and senior officers on their separate mystical cycle.

- No head-of-line privilege for liberty. There's usually no line to get off the ship, you just walk off when your work is done. If there's a line for liberty (docked alongside tender) you'll probably be mixed in the same line as the enlisted guys (for example behind that E2 mess crank) unless you're a department head/department chief.

- Your reason for being in port may vary from a scheduled liberty port to a working port. If it's a working port you'll spend most of your time.. working. If the boat is in port due to equipment problems with your division, don't expect a lot of liberty. You'll fix said equipment ASAP (possibly rotating shifts) and pull out as as soon as testing is done and stores are on-loaded.

- If you're in quals (generally first 1-2 years on sub) you'll have less liberty. That goes for officer and enlisted.

Usually you have a set number of liberty ports per deployment, which you'll know of ahead of time. Of course, all things are subject to change.

[GANuke]

Thanks for the quick and thorough responses everyone!