Dalmau: They did. They sent about 20 folks over here. All of my Sailors came back saying, “That ship is so amazing! It actually can hover! I can put a GPS waypoint in and say ‘Stay here.’ And it does. She’s not anchored. She’s been hovering.”

Lundquist: What’s your interaction with the flagship?

Dalmau: I had the opportunity when we were in Estonia to go aboard the Mount Whitney.

We participated in all the pre-sail events onboard Mount Whitney. Vice Adm. Foggo (Commander Sixth Fleet and Commander Naval Striking Force NATO) came over to Carter Hall during the exercise; as did Rear Adm. Kitchener, who is about to become Expeditionary Strike Group 2. Rear Adm. Kitchener actually spent the night and was fully immersed in ‘amphibiosity.’

Lundquist: You’ll participate in Kiel Week next. How much longer before you go back?

Dalmau: We have about a month left over here. We’ll get some high visibility Sixth Fleet port visits on our way home. So we’ll return to Norfolk in mid-July.

Lundquist: And then what?

Dalmau: INSURV a month after our return. We’ve been working really hard while we’ve been out here to prepare. There’s a lot of hard work going on onboard the ship. One of the hard parts about being in a long availability is you kind of lose ownership. And so that’s been our big push ever since we left the yard in late November, taking ownership and pride in our job, our work, and our workspace. There’s a lot happening on board with respect to Sailors really wanting to fix their own equipment, and make their spaces look good.

Lundquist: What would you like to say about your crew?

Dalmau: They’re fantastic. And I really mean that. The things that we were able to accomplish in the last six months, coming out of the yards and coming over here for this multinational fleet exercise, is impressive. I had basically a pre-com crew when we got the ship underway in November, because so many people had turned over. They hadn’t been underway. And we got a lot of new systems in the availability. All of our engineering plant was upgraded during our midlife. And then we also got a brand new combat system. Besides the Basic Phase we also conducted a CSSQT [combat systems ship qualification trials]. Accomplishing all of that, given the lack of proficiency we had starting off, is pretty impressive. The ship really wanted to go on BALTOPS, and they pushed themselves and accomplished pretty much every goal that we had set for them to accomplish to be able to meet this mission. What I’ve asked from them they delivered, and they just work hard. They get along well and they work hard together. Our Chief’s mess and wardroom work well together. I think that’s a product of my CMC [command master chief], who really tried to foster that good working relationship between the wardroom and the crew. And it just feeds down to the Sailors on deckplates. We’re not a perfect ship and we’ve had our challenges, but we have a good crew, and they really want to do well. That’s not just me saying that, that’s feedback from folks who come aboard and have experienced that enthusiasm.

Lundquist: What else didn’t I ask you that you want people to know about your ship?

Dalmau: The Fightin’ Five-O is back in the fight!