SAN DIEGO — Sailors assigned to the amphibious assault ship USS Essex reopen the galley after it was completely renovated with new ovens, steamers and deep sinks.
Essex closed the galley when the ship entered docking selected restricted availability. However, when they initially shut the galley down, the ship still held over one hundred pallets worth of food that the ship could no longer use.
The culinary team called a few of the ships across the water front, and were able to salvage the surplus food by providing it to USS Abraham Lincoln.
The galley being closed did not slow down the Essex Culinary Specialist team. The team created a partnership with the Hotel del Coronado, rotating three team members every 30 days to learn how to prepare meals in the high tempo environment of the civilian sector, and bring those skills back to the crew.
They also sent sailors to compete in 13 different culinary competitions including the Sea vs. Shore Galleys Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Cake Competition, which they won. Two Essex sailors were selected to be the first U.S. Navy sailors to represent the Navy in the U.S. Army Culinary Arts Team, which competed in the Culinary Olympics in Stuttgart, Germany, where they won bronze.
“The sailors are really performing really well when it comes to getting the job that we need to get done,” said Culinary Specialist 1st Class Maria Martin. “We have a lot of people that have been here for deployment and Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC), and they’re some real heavy hitters when it comes to leading the new sailors.”
Spare sailors from the Culinary Team were sent to assist in helping 16 different commands to complete multiple different inspections and go on deployments.
The Culinary Specialists are responsible for 326 spaces, including 128 staterooms and 12 storerooms which they needed to refurbish with paint, a polyurethane resin coating, fixing lights, doors, hinges, lockers, missing handles and repairing the showers.
The team managed a $10 million budget in contracts to completely rehabilitate all of their spaces and equipment.
“My goal is to be the best ship in the United States Navy,” said Domagalski, “which is why I am so blessed to have such an amazing team. They poured everything they had into making this happen.”
After 758 days refurbishing the ship, competing in competitions, and training with other commands and civilians, the Culinary Specialists were able to reopen all three of their galleys with full capacity to serve 1100 sailors and Marines.
Essex is homeported in San Diego, conducting a maintenance period to upgrade and refurbish many key systems aboard.
