Chicago Heights Sailor Ready For New Mission After Record Deployment

CHICAGO HEIGHTS, IL — Frank Cary’s friends tried to warn him about taking a Navy deployment aboard a submarine.

They warned that such a mission would be too difficult and challenging and that the idea of being underwater for such a long period of time wasn’t for the weak of heart. But Cary, a 26-year-old Chicago Heights native who joined the U.S. Navy in 2016 and who now serves as a Petty Officer, had always been fascinated by the vessels and always considered himself up for a challenge.

What he didn’t expect was a record deployment that kept himself and his crewmates aboard the USS Newport News would be gone for a record 137 days, spanning a period of more than six months between the winter of 2019 and the summer of 2020.

Cary, an information systems technician specialist who is currently based out of Groton, Conn., recently returned to Chicago along with his crewmates thanks to a weeklong tour of the city organized by the USS Hyman G. Rickover Commissioning Committee, which brought the sailors to Chicago to attend a commissioning ceremony for a new nuclear submarine. The Rickover is in the final stages of construction at the Connecticut Naval base where Cary is based.

The trip allowed Cary to gain a new perspective of Chicago, a place he said he rarely visited during his childhood. But during the weeklong stay, he and his crewmates were treated to a tour of Wrigley Field, a Chicago Blackhawks game, and other events that was intended to provide a memorable experience for the crew that was part of the record deployment.

Cary said that with most deployments, details of what lies ahead are limited. In this case, Cary said the crew of the Newport News – which is 360 feet long, displaces 6,900 tons of water, and can travel in excess of 25 knots, according to Navy officials —was told that the specifics of their deployment would be divulged once they were on their way across the Atlantic.

“Normally, you have a pretty good idea of where you’re going to go in the world and what you’re going to do,” Cary told Patch on Thursday.

“For this deployment, we had no details.”

That wasn’t the case with this deployment. Cary said that because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and other things “going on in the world” the Navy didn’t give the crew exact plans of where they were going to land. The crew planned for a trip around the world with stops at various ports. But for various reasons, the crew was unable to make scheduled stops and they were told instead to just keep heading east.

Once across the Atlantic, the USS Newport News entered the Mediterranean and then did a surfaced Suez Canal transit, which Cary said is exceedingly rare for a submarine to do these days because of the passage through the Middle East. The deployment continued in Fifth Fleet, which has responsibilities in the Persian Gulf until the vessel reached Diego Garcia, which is located in the British Indian Ocean Territory, where the record span of time spent underwater finally came to a close.

During the deployment under Commander Dave Fassel, the Newport News made 1,000 dives during the mission, earning praise for its resiliency throughout the mission.

“The level of dedication, teamwork, resiliency, and heart this crew demonstrated during an extended seven-month deployment is just amazing,” Fassel said in a Navy news release.
“The fact that we were able to spend 137 continuous days while managing our equipment status and food inventory is a true testament to the mental toughness and sacrifice every sailor exhibited to ensure Newport News was on station when the country called upon her.”

Cary said the number of unknowns the crew experienced made the deployment more difficult but calls the experience one of the most rewarding not only of his Naval career but also in his lifetime.

While the deployment was much longer than expected and with communication between himself and his family limited, trading emails every 2-3 days, Cary praised his crew for its ability to maintain a positive mindset for the seven-month deployment. While there were some anxious moments during a deployment in which there were no port stops as opposed to most missions where submarines don’t typically go more than 1-2 months without pulling into port, Cary said he and his crew were able to maintain their composure.

There were regular events aboard the Newport News to keep morale up, including a halfway event, in which video game systems were raffled off. Another raffle allowed sailors to pretend to be the captain of the Newport News or its commanding officer for 24 hours, which, Cary said, went a long way in keeping spirits high.

“We as a crew really did a lot to make sure that we kept morale up because once you go down on a submarine, the only people are going to keep you happy and keep that morale up are the guys you are with,” Cary said.

“You have to do your best to keep each other up and help each other out or you end up not making it.”

Cary said he’s proud to be part of a record deployment in which the crew aboard the Newport News was able to overcome odds that no one could have seen coming. The crew was able to ration out its food for the duration of the deployment and stopped the submarine from breaking, meaning that there is a steel tube aboard the vessel that is designed to sink and resurface.

With the submarine being submerged so long, that tube is exposed to a great deal of sea pressure, Cary said, as well as maneuvers that, given the duration of the deployment, odds were that something would break along the way. It never did.

He said credit goes to a crew that showed creativity and know-how in knowing how to address issues that could have made things go much worse than they did.

“Those are the things that help you make sure you are completing your mission successfully,” he said.

Cary will soon begin the next phase of his Naval career in Japan, where he will have time to not be involved in the kind of missions like the record deployment he experienced. That, along with his recent visit to Chicago, has made what he and his crewmates endured during their six months at sea all worth it.

His return trip to Chicago is one he soon won’t forget. Experiencing the city the way he did opened his eyes to a different part of the city he hadn’t viewed before. Now back home with his wife and 1-year-old daughter in Connecticut, Cary will prepare for the next chapter of his military career.

Given what he does for the Navy, he said he has only gotten to see the “hard parts” of Navy life and looks forward to what lies ahead. He will do so grateful for the opportunities he has had but also thankful to see his military career through a different lens.

Once in Japan in April, he will be part of the 7th Fleet — onshore duty — which he said will give him the chance at a different type of Navy life while also getting the chance to rest and recuperate from such a challenging stretch.

But for Cary, who never shied away from life aboard a submarine, all he has seen and experienced won’t soon be forgotten.

“When you’re attached to an operational submarine, anytime you’re in port, you’re just looking forward to going back out to sea and working really hard days, really challenging days toward achieving your goal,” Cary said. “But shore duty, you’re able to work on yourself and take a break.

“But this has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.”