How Teamwork and Ingenuity Kept a Submarine on Schedule
By Ms. Lauren Fosnot, Staff Writer
At the heart of many successful efforts is a team—people with different skill sets, experiences, and perspectives coming together. At the 735th Air Mobility Squadron (AMS), Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, that spirit of collaboration fuels every challenge they face.
In early 2025, that teamwork was put to the test when the Navy made an urgent request. Navy counterparts needed a nitrogen source—and fast—to keep the USS Hawaii on schedule. The nitrogen would be used to purge a submarine oxygen system, creating an inert atmosphere to prevent combustion and corrosion and, ultimately, protect the crew. But the Navy did not have what they needed on hand.
“The Pearl Harbor Intermediate Maintenance Yard reached out to our Maintenance Supervisor, Mr. Lemerande, and said, ‘Hey, [we’ve] got a problem,’” explained Capt Andrew Jones, 735 AMS Maintenance Operations Officer. “They needed nitrogen to perform maintenance tasks. They reached out to us knowing we have liquid nitrogen trucks that we use to service C-5 aircraft.”
Even though this kind of request was new, the team did not flinch.
“Our boss told us, ‘Hey, this needs to happen,’” said Steven Chong, Aircraft Mechanic. “So, we went over and knocked it out.”
That confidence did not come from nowhere. Steven Chong, Jon Anderson, and SSgt Macie Jones are all subject matter experts when it comes to liquid and gaseous nitrogen. When a challenge like this situation hits, they are the ones you want.
SSgt Jones pointed to the experience Chong and Anderson brought to the table.
“They’ve been working with C-5s for more than thirty years. They definitely know how to rise to the occasion,” she said. “They knew how to do it effectively and safely.”
And that is exactly what they did.
“They got a unique challenge, and they went out and did it,” said Capt Jones. “I mean, there wasn’t any hesitation.”
The biggest hurdle? Navy and Air Force systems are not built to work together.
“Our system is nitrogen. The Navy’s is oxygen. And those two should never mix,” said Anderson. “So, nobody makes an adapter for that. But it just so happened that in the civilian world, there’s an adapter for it.”
The team got creative.
“We ended up having to procure the adapter from a commercial source,” Anderson explained. “Neither of our shops had the part we needed.”
That small part—off-the-shelf, less than twenty dollars—was the key; however, it was not just about finding the part. It was about building a plan that balanced safety, experience, and mission success.
“We already knew how our equipment worked,” Chong shared. “So we interviewed the Navy guys, had them bring out their equipment, looked at it, and assessed the risks. And there really wasn’t any. We just used risk management, common sense, and sensibilities.”
SSgt Jones helped connect all the plumbing herself, alongside Anderson. Once the hookup was complete, they ran the test with full safety precautions in place.
“Liquid nitrogen is pretty cold stuff—that’s negative 320 degrees Fahrenheit,” Anderson said. “We’ve got PPE made just for that—thick leather gloves, aprons, boots, face shields. Once we got the connection good to go, it was basically standard procedure.”
Still, the innovation was impressive.
As SSgt Jones noted, “The solution wasn’t there at first, and they just made it happen.”
The Navy counterparts were grateful for this swift turnaround.
“The Navy said they’d have to machine the part, get a blueprint, and it would take about a week,” Anderson said. “But we knew we could go downtown and get it for twenty dollars. It wasn’t made for this, but it worked.”
As Chong put it, their risk management was rooted in experience.
“We’re old school, so we did the whole ‘dangerous versus payoff’ on what we were doing,” he said. “We already knew our system. The rest was about smart judgment.”
The mission was completed safely, effectively—and fast.
“It was a cool opportunity for us to learn more about the Navy side as well, just how they work and what their processes are like,” SSgt Jones added.
Beyond the technical win, the collaboration itself was a success.
“Any exposure to a joint service is going to pay dividends,” Capt Jones said. “Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines—we all have different missions and different cultures. The more we cross paths, the better. Every once in a while, you will meet that Navy Chief who happens to know a different channel to get something done. Being on a joint base, that can really help support the warfighting mission.”
In the end, this was more than just a quick fix. It was a reminder that when civilians, Airmen, and Sailors work together as one team—there is not much they cannot do.