Sailors aboard the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt use a boat and aircraft crane to lift the captain's gig from Turkish waters after a port visit in Marmaris, Turkey in 2006. Gigs are being phased out on the Navy's 11 aircraft carriers.Long a skipper’s perk, the gig is going awayBy Philip Ewing - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Feb 11, 2008 6:58:26 EST
Carrier skippers are losing a traditional status symbol under a Navy directive issued in January. The captain’s gig, the motorboat set aside to ferry commanding officers to shore when their ships are anchored away from land, is being phased out of the fleet.
Under a directive issued by Naval Air Forces, all 11 carriers will be required to turn in their captain’s gigs before June 30, 2009. “Removal of the captain’s gig will reduce maintenance costs and free up valuable hangar bay space,” the message reads.
Admiral’s barges, another variety of boat traditionally carried aboard carriers, aren’t affected by the gig withdrawal. And captain’s gigs will stay aboard the amphibious assault ships and other surface ships that now carry them, said Cmdr. Jane Campbell, spokeswoman for Naval Surface Forces.
So far, three carriers — the Enterprise, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Carl Vinson — have turned in their boats, said Capt. Ted Carter, the Vinson’s commanding officer and head of the Navy’s Carrier Readiness Team. All three carriers are in port or being overhauled.
The motorboats, some of which have served as long as their host carriers and been continually refurbished, will go into storage until the Navy decides what to do with them.
Rest of article at:
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/02/navy_captgigs_080210w/