Kitty Hawk Makes History During 3M Assessment

By Journalist 3rd Class Christopher Koons, USS Kitty Hawk Public Affairs

During USS Kitty Hawk’s (CV 63) recent maintenance and material management (3M) assessment, which concluded Nov. 14, the ship made history by becoming the first aircraft carrier ever to complete the assessment without a single department receiving an unsatisfactory grade. “We received an overall grade of 96 percent,” said Senior Chief Electrician’s Mate (SW) Frank Miller, Kitty Hawk’s senior 3M coordinator. “We topped the last 3M assessment, for which we received a 95, and none of our 17 departments were graded as unsatisfactory. This is a major accomplishment.” The assessment, conducted by a team from Commander, Naval Air Forces (CNAF), evaluated Kitty Hawk’s 3M program in several areas, with the ship scoring highest in regards to 3M administration and command involvement in the program.

“We received a score of 98 on the [administration] portion,” said Miller. “The inspectors found very few discrepancies and saw that work center supervisors, chiefs and division officers were all deeply involved in making the program work.” According to Miller, Kitty Hawk’s success in these areas led to its success in every other part of the assessment. “[Planned Maintenance System] Performance Rate (PPR) made up half of our total grade, and [Maintenance Data System] Performance Rate (MPR) made up the other half,” he said. “We received a 93 on PPR and a 94 on MPR.” Most notably, Kitty Hawk Sailors passed almost all of the equipment spot checks they were assigned to perform for the inspectors, said Miller, who pointed out that 40 percent of the assessment dealt with spot checks. “Out of 316 total spot checks, 298 were graded as satisfactory,” he said. “We had to pass 90 percent of our spot checks to receive an overall satisfactory grade, so that meant we couldn’t fail more than 31 of them. We did better than expected.” For Kitty Hawk’s supply department, the 3M assessment was a chance to reap success after months of preparation, said Culinary Specialist 1st Class (SW) Jesus Delrosario, supply’s maintenance leading petty officer. “We received an overall score of 95 percent,” he said. “On equipment validation, we got a 100 percent.” Supply also contributed to the ship’s overall success on spot checks and administration issues, Delrosario explained. “We passed 23 of our 25 assigned spot checks,” he said. “Our 3M administration was also judged to be orderly, without any major discrepancies.” According to Miller, Kitty Hawk will have its next 3M assessment sometime within the next two years. In the meantime, the crew must not let its maintenance standards slide. “Maintenance is a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week business,” he said. “We need to keep our standards high so we won’t have to pick ourselves up for the next assessment. We need to maintain a steady stream.” Capt. Ed McNamee, Kitty Hawk’s commanding officer, praised the entire crew for its performance during the assessment. “Our grade on the assessment is a result of everyone working as a team,” he said. “You should all be very proud of yourselves.” The Kitty Hawk Strike Group is the largest carrier strike group in the Navy and is composed of the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk, Carrier Air Wing 5, the guided-missile cruisers USS Chancellorsville (CG 62) and USS Cowpens (CG 63), and Destroyer Squadron 15.