(CNN) Five minutes before six, when the first glow of dawn has barely touched the horizon over the Pacific Ocean, the power guitar chords of a song by the band Three Doors Down suddenly crackles to life over the ship's loudspeakers. Every morning, the executive officer of the USS Ashland plays a different tune to start the day at sea. Moments later, light floods the narrow hallways, steel airlocks, and steep stairwells of this warship. Sailors and Marines clamber out of claustrophobic, packed bunks, splash water on their faces, and line up patiently outside the ship's mess. Inside, Navy cooks dish up pancakes, eggs, fruit and endless cups of steaming coffee.Huge ship houses over six hundred servicemen and womenNavy under scrutiny after high profile at-sea collisions
On approach to the _, the much larger warship slowly opens enormous doors in its stern. Technically classified an amphibious dock landing ship, the _ has its own engineering department, a gym where service men and women pump iron, a small fleet of skiffs and motor boats, and a helicopter pad.