Photo By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class David Wyscaver
BREMERTON, Wash. – A Kennewick, Washington, native and 2015 Hanford High School graduate is serving aboard the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis, a floating airport at sea.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Kyle Dey is an electronics technician serving aboard the carrier. A Navy electronics technician is responsible for maintaining radar, navigation, and interfacing equipment.
“I maintain critical air radar for the ship, which is very important to the ship's mission,” said Dey.
Approximately 3,200 men and women make up the crew of John C. Stennis, with an additional 2,000 sailors assigned to the ship’s embarked air wing, Carrier Air Wing 9.
Named in honor of former Senator John C. Stennis from Mississippi, the carrier is longer than three football fields, measuring nearly 1,100 feet. The ship, a true floating city, weighs more than 100,000 tons and has a flight deck that is 252 feet wide.
When the air wing is embarked, the ship carries more than 70 attack jets, helicopters and other aircraft, all of which take off from and land aboard the carrier at sea.
Powerful catapults slingshot the aircraft off the bow of the ship. The planes land aboard the carrier by snagging a steel cable with an arresting hook that protrudes from the rear of the aircraft.
Dey combines the lessons learned from both the Navy and Kennewick to take personal responsibility in performing assigned tasks and leading others.
“I learned the importance of paying attention growing up, and that's carried me in the Navy,” said Dey.
As a member of one of the U.S. Navy’s most relied upon assets, Dey and other John C. Stennis sailors know they are part of a legacy that will last beyond their lifetimes providing the Navy the nation needs.
“Serving in the Navy means I'm doing my part carrying on a family legacy, and it's a good experience for me,” said Dey.