The ships aren't ships :-)

[bluemom]

Being a rookie at all this, I pictured all these practice ships sitting in the harbor at Great Lakes.  I figured the SRs were literally on the ships.  It turns out the "ships" are actually buildings.  I was talking to my daughter who is going through the recruitment process and did a lot more research than my SR son who is now in Boot Camp.  She told me the "ships" were actually buildings.  :-)

[Craig]

~ Understanding the Ships ~

A "ship" at boot camp is truly just a building. They call it a ship just to get the newbies to start using that word.

- Each ship (building) has its own name. For example, USS Triton (ship-12), USS Reuben James (ship-2), or maybe the USS Kearsarge (ship-11)

- Each ship has 3 floors.

- On each floor they have 4 divisions. So you have 3 floors x 4 divisions = 12 divisions per ship.

- Each division has ~88 recruits, so you have 88 recruits x 12 division = 1056 recruits per ship. However, during the surge months, they can easily move walls and have ~84 recruits x 18 division = 1512 recruits per ship.

- What people get messed up on is they think each ship graduates (PIR) on the same date. It doesn't. One a few divisions will graduate. You can a couple divisions from USS Triton Ship-12, a couple from USS Arizona Ship 14, maybe 4 divisions the USS Kearsarge Ship 11, and maybe four divisions from the USS Chicago Ship 7. So at PIR (graduation) many ships are represented.

Attached is what the ships look like. All ships are exactly the same since they were contracted at the same time. These pictures are of the USS Triton Ship-12:

You will see:
The Galley (chow hall) and Training rooms are in the left building, the center is the Quarter Deck, and the right is the sleeping Compartments.

The overall picture of the sleeping compartment.

At the end of the building, right in the middle, is where your recruits will normally enter the building. If they are in a group of 10 or less they will enter the building through the Quarterdeck. There are two divisions per side, so 4 divisions per floor. There are 3 floors. So you have 4 x 3 = 12 divisions per ship.

What are the divisions?
Here is the complete way things work...

Each fiscal year begins Oct 1st. So if your future sailor is placed in the very 1st boot camp division in October their division would be 001. You will see ~10 divisions per week going through boot camp. The numbers vary by the needs of the Navy. Some weeks have no divisions. You won’t see any for 12/20 and 12/27 2013.

For example:
The last division for FY-13 was:
TG-52 (which means they started boot camp the last week of September, the 52nd week of boot camp).
Divisions 421 thru 430, 952. Division #430 was the very last division for FY-13, and division 952 was the last performance division (band, choir, sticks, body snatchers) for FY-13.
There PIR date is Nov 8th 2013.

The very 1st division for FY-14 is:
TG-01 (which means they started boot camp the very 1st week of October).

Divisions 001 thru 011, 901. Division #001 was the very first division for FY-14, and division 901 is the first performance division (band, choir, sticks, body snatchers) for FY-14. Their PIR date is Nov 15th 2013.

fyi sticks = the guys that hold the flags, body snatchers = are the guys that quickly get the sailors that might or have fainted off the PIR graduation floor and bring them to the back room. There is always someone that the body snatchers will remove.

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Division 001 thru ??? (usually up to 400's) are the regular sailor going through boot camp.
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Division 801 thru ???. These are the Special Ops (SPEC-OPS) guys. They go up each number as we need Special Ops guys. Some weeks you don't have any 800's division, some weeks you might have two divisions. They are random based on the needs of the Navy. They start with 801, and the numbers click one up as SPEC-OPS divisions are needed.
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Division 901 thru 952 is the performance division (Drill, Choir, Band, Body Snatcher). They have one each week starting at the fiscal year (October). Sometimes they double up the 900's division due to holidays...
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Division 2341 - RCU (Recruit Care Unit) for those that have medical problems, and need to heal.
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Division 2347 - This division is for those sailors that have failed the PFA by less than 1 minute.
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Division 2381 - This division is for those sailors that have failed any portion of the swim test.
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Division 2444 - This division is for those sailors that have failed the PFA by more than 1 minute.
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Lastly Ship 5 - This group doesn't actually have a division number but they are still a division. They are the ones that are being discharged from the Navy....
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Hope this helps... Does it make sense?

Craig
PIRGifts.com (Providing 100% funding for NavyDEP.com)
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[bluemom]

Wow.  Great info, Craig.  Thanks!

[DonnaG]

Thank you.

[BunkerQB]

Hey, Craig. Where have you been?

Big Sis, BQB.

[Craig]

Hi BQB, I'm just going crazy trying to keep hacker out of my website, working with the Navy Exchange to get our items into the stores, paying lots of $$$ for my daughter wedding (she's stationed at Travis, and will have the wedding in Lake Tahoe), and about 100 things. It's been rough, but I do pop in every so often to seen if I can make understanding the Navy more easy for families...
Take care...

[BunkerQB]

Please PM me w you addy. Would like to send her a small gift.