Surface Warfare Magazine - Fall 2017

Surface Warfare FALL 2017 Issue 56

This issue:

Warfighting Serial #13 Lost & Found Navy’s Role in Finding USS Indianapolis

Our Navy’s Mission: How the Surface Forces Fit In

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Authorization

Surface Warfare is published quarterly from appropriated funds by authority of the Chief of Naval Operations in accordance with NPPR P-35.

The Secretary of the Navy has determined that this publication is necessary in the transaction of business required by law of the Department of the Navy.

Use of funds for printing this publication has been approved by the Navy Publications and Printing Policy Committee.

Reproductions are encouraged with proper citation. Controlled circulation.

Postmaster: Send address changes to Surface Warfare, SURFPAC Public Affairs Office, 2841 Rendova Road, San Diego, CA 92155.

Surface Warfare (USPS 104-170) (ISSN 0145-1073) is published by the Department of the Navy, Commander, Naval Surface Forces, 2841 Rendova Road, San Diego, CA 92155. Periodicals postage paid at San Diego, CA, and additional mailing offices.

Charter

Surface Warfare Magazine is the professional magazine of the surface warfare community. Its purpose is to educate its readers on surface warfare missions and programs, with a particular focus on U.S. surface ships and commands. This journal will also draw upon the Surface Force’s rich historical legacy to instill a sense of pride and professionalism among community members and to enhance reader awareness of the increasing relevance of surface warfare for our nation’s defense.

The opinions and assertions herein are the personal views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense or the Department of the Navy.

Surface Warfare Fall 2017 Issue 56

Contact:

Surface Warfare Commander, Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet Public Affairs Office, N01P 2841 Rendova Road San Diego, CA 92155 Phone: (619) 437-2735

Contributions and Feedback Welcome Send articles, photographs (min. 300 dpi electronic) and feedback to: surface_warfare_maga@navy.mil

Commander, Naval Surface Forces Vice Adm. Tom Rowden Deputy Commander, Naval Surface Forces Rear Adm. John Mustin Public Affairs Officer Cmdr. John Perkins Executive Editor MCCM Michael Mitchell Managing Editor Ted Townsend MC2 Phil Ladouceur Layout and Design Ted Townsend MC2 Phil Ladouceur

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Contents IF IT FLOATS

IT FIGHTS 2 • Commander's Corner Surface Force News:

Cover Stories:

4 • Surface Warriors and Industry Experts

Convene, Discuss Warfighting Innovation

20 • Warfighting Serial #13

5 • Aegis BMD system intercepts target

missile aboard USS John Paul Jones 6 •Naval Maintenance Community Recognizes

Gold Disk Developers 7 • Navy Successfully Conducts

AN/SPY-6(V) Radar Missile Defense Test

22 • Lost & Found

Navy’s Role in Finding

USS Indianapolis 28 • Destroyers: “Tin Can” Legacy

Forged of Lethal Steel 30 • USS Rafael Peralta

Commissioned in San Diego 32 • USS John Finn

Commissioned in Pearl Harbor

7 • Navy Completes First LRASM Free Flight

from B-1B Lancer 34 • SWO Boss Heads Surface Force

Maintenance Discussion at 8 • USS Coronado Hits Target With Lethal FMMS 2017

Harpoon Missile During Training

Near Guam 36 • UNITAS: Our 58 years of Unity in

the Americas 10 • Patrol Craft Employment in the Caribbean 38 • Leadership Literature:

A Hero for the Rest of Us 11 • Our Navy’s Mission:

How the Surface Forces Fit In

40 • Voices From the Fleet:

From Training to Real Life

Success: Driving an LCS

14 • 'Up-Gunned ESG' Concept Moves

Forward in Talisman Saber 17 18 • USS Sterett 'Up Guns' the BHR

Expeditionary Strike Group for

Talisman Saber 17

Cover: USS Indianapolis (CA-35)

underway in 1939. National Archives Identifier (NAID) 520785.

Illustrated by Ted Townsend.

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Commander's Corner

Photo by Greg Vojtko U.S. Navy Photographer

Surface Warriors, since our last magazine release, the success we have enjoyed through sustained operations at sea and advances in warfighting and tactics has remained steadfast. Yet, in the forefront of our minds must be the tragedies of USS Fitzgerald and USS John S. McCain. The 17 Sailors lost, and their families, will forever weigh on our thoughts. In the wake of the collisions, we have been forced to take a deep, hard look at the core of our maritime profession – safely operating our ships at sea.

I recently visited our Forward Deployed Naval Forces in the western Pacific, spending more than 65 hours on the decks of 17 ships between Yokosuka, Sasebo, and Singapore. On each ship, I conducted an all-hands call, and met with the command triads, wardrooms and Chiefs Mess. It is undeniable, all of these Sailors work relentlessly every day to ensure our surface combatants stand ready to answer our nations call – and I want to thank each and every Sailor we have doing the same around the Surface Force.

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Editorial by

Vice Adm. Tom Rowden Commander, Naval Surface Forces

I’ve also disseminated multiple Warfighting Serials and guidance directed at giving course correction to improve the readiness of the Surface Force – the proper time to train our Sailors and the necessary materials and time to maintain and man of our ships. As I think about what is needed to keep the Surface Force focused on these things, in my mind it always goes back to the old saying of being “brilliant in the basics.” And the foundation upon which we build the basics is a heavy reliance on Sound Shipboard Operating Procedures (SSOP) and their supporting processes:

Make no mistake, though. It isn’t enough to just read these aloud, or treat them as a “check in the box.”

These fundamentals must permeate the Surface Navy through enculturation – from the pilot house down to every Sailor in the combat information center and the engineering spaces – we need to work vigorously to ensure SSOPs are ingrained in our culture. We must demand that Sailors live these principles from their very first qualification through their most advanced role on each team (watchstanding, damage control, etc.), and every day, every evolution between. A culture founded on these principles will allow us to produce and move forward with more confident and more competent Sailors. It’ll push us to be brilliant in the basics, and allow us to concentrate maximum effort on the highend fight and warfighting readiness.

As the Type Commanders responsible for ensuring the Surface Force is properly manned, trained, and equipped, Surface Warfare owes it to you to do everything within our power to build confidence and competence in each of you, and it starts with us getting the fundamentals right. We will leverage the entire team and resources at our disposal to give you what you need in this effort.

Thanks for all you do. I'll see you on the waterfront! *

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Surface Force News

Photo by MC1 Trevor Welsh

Surface Warriors and Industry Experts Convene, Discuss Warfighting Innovation SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- Subject matter experts from military, industry and civilian organizations affiliated with the surface warfare community gathered to discuss various emergent surface warfare areas at Naval Base Point Loma's Fleet Anti-Submarine Warfare Training Center, August 15-17.

Organized by Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet (CNSP), the "TED" style summit included topics such as upcoming surface attack weaponry, threat assessments, training and developing surface warfare officers (SWOs), leadership and organizational psychology, and innovations in logistics and cyber warfighting. These briefs came from professionals in organizations such as the Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center, Naval War College, Naval PostGraduate School, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, Arbinger Institute, and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

The summit opened with tone-setting remarks from Vice Adm. Tom Rowden, commander of Naval Surface Forces, who explained the necessity of the Surface Force Strategy (SFS) and how it serves as a call to action to

build, organize, train, and equip surface forces that can fight and win today, tomorrow, and beyond.

"I'd like to set the tone for the event today and talk about our mindset on sea control, mental toughness and fighting spirit," Rowden said. "We've entered a new age of seapower."

Tension in the security environment on the seas is rising around the world and being prepared for such a maritime environment is crucial to maintaining our seapower. The guidance to do so is contained in the Surface Force Strategy. The objective is to achieve and sustain sea control at a chosen time and place to protect the homeland from afar, build and maintain global security, project the national power of the United States, and win decisively through the Surface Force tenants: warfighting readiness, people - trained, competent and tough.

"We are all warfighters and our mission is to win at sea," Rowden said. "We must operate as if the shooting began yesterday. But for those of you at sea, I would offer that much of the success you're going to have, or not have, depends up on your level of engagement and enthusiasm for training."

Capt. Kurt Sellerberg, the director of the Distributed Lethality Task Force at CNSP briefed attendees on what

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he refers to as the central nervous system of the Surface Force Strategy - "T4" - which stands for Tactics, Talent, Tools and Training. T4 calls for tactical excellence and rededication within the Surface Force to enable sea control.

T4 also calls for the effective use and powerful impact of talented and engaged leaders who remain committed to the importance of developing warfare tactics experts.

It provides guidance on what type and how many tools are needed to get the job done: design, procure and build the future Fleet to raise the combat capability of surface ships. The Surface Navy must have a zealous approach to training that is realistic and integrated in which environments are created that replicate the challenges of operating and sustaining warships in complex naval engagement scenarios.

"The T4 is all man, train and equip - it falls within or touches every aspect of Surface Forces claimancy," Sellerberg said. "Most important is to recognize that one 'T' can't be effective without another, when one 'T' falls short all the other 'Ts' are suboptimized."

"The composition of the T4 gives us capability, and I work hard to make sure they are in balance and optimized for peak performance," said Sellerberg. "I see the Surface Force Strategy already in action and there is no magic formula here - it's about harnessing the right tactics, talent, training and tools so that we can deceive, target and destroy an adversary. Sea control is the necessary precondition for everything else we do as a Navy."

Surface Warfare is the integrator in today's warfighting disciplines from the tactical to the theater level. The focus of such power and presence is placed upon the combat ready warships operating forward; success lies upon surface combatants. But those ships are lifeless metal without the crews of warfighters and their skilled and trusted leaders.

"Everything we do should have a focus on improving capabilities and developing people...Sailors must have a fierce desire to compete," Rowden explained.

"Competition drives the innovation and initiative needed to remain the world's premiere Navy. This is exceedingly important as strong navies grow exponentially and weak navies rapidly fall behind. First place is all that matters - second and beyond are irrelevant. It takes Sailors who are fierce competitors to ensure we remain in first place."

Rowden explained not only are the warfighters who are responsible for employing the SFS required to have the right tools, be highly skilled, trained and talented, but they must also be tough.

"People - trained, competent, tough," said Rowden.

"So, toughness...what is it? It's that ability to face our fears and dig deep to harness an unrelenting determination to win. Americans have responded for two centuries with a fighting spirit that is a direct result of our love of liberty and freedom. We are slow to anger, but resolute when pushed." *

Photo by Latonja Martin U.S. Navy Photographer

Aegis BMD system aboard USS John Paul Jones intercepts target missile FORT BELVOIR, Va. - The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and U.S. Navy Sailors aboard USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53) successfully conducted a complex missile defense flight test, resulting in the intercept of a medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) target using a Standard Missile (SM) 6 guided missile during a test off the coast of Hawaii, August 29.

John Paul Jones detected and tracked a target missile launched from the Pacific Missile Range From Facility on Kauai, Hawaii, with Missile Defense its onboard AN/SPY-1 radar and Agency onboard SM-6 missiles executed the intercept.

"We are working closely with the fleet to develop this important new capability, and this was a key milestone in giving our Aegis BMD (Ballistic Missile Defense) ships an enhanced capability to defeat ballistic missiles in their terminal phase," said MDA Director Lt. Gen. Sam Greaves. "We will continue developing ballistic missile defense technologies to stay ahead of the threat as it evolves."

This test, designated Flight Test Standard Missile (FTM) 27 Event 2, marks the second time that an SM-6 missile has successfully intercepted a mediumrange ballistic missile target.

Aegis BMD is the naval component of the Ballistic Missile Defense System. MDA and the U.S. Navy cooperatively manage the Aegis BMD program. *

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Surface Force News Naval Maintenance Community Recognizes Gold Disk Developers SAN DIEGO - Commander, Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet Vice Adm. Tom Rowden, presented three Sailors with Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Gold Disk Awards during the American Society of Naval Engineers' Fleet Maintenance and Modernization Symposium (FMMS) held at the San Diego Convention Center, August 16.

Interior Communications Specialist 1st Class Johnathan By Mass Grinols, stationed aboard USS Communication Stockdale (DDG 106), Electronics Specialist 1st Technician 2nd Class Oscar Ray, Class Trevor stationed aboard USS Decatur Welsh, (DDG 73), Electronics Technician Naval Surface 3rd Class Dakota Lovekeys, Force, U.S. stationed aboard USS Lake Pacific Fleet Champlain (CG 57), were each Public Affairs presented a letter of commendation from the CNO and a $2,000 cash reward in front of more than 200 naval engineers and industry professionals for their dedication to technical expertise in the Module Test and Repair (MTR) Program.

"It’s young Sailors like this that do superb work, which directly enhances the readiness and sustainability of ships’ systems," said Rowden. “It is my privilege and honor to present these awards. Bravo Zulu!”

Guided by Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), the MTR Program develops and provides electrical and electronic module test and repair capabilities to afloat and ashore maintenance facilities. The goal of MTR is to improve resource management through cost avoidance and reduced turn-around time from diagnosis to repair.

Gold Disk developers are experts in the field of microminiature repair (2M), using their expertise to develop standard procedures for repairs through the MTR program. Utilizing schematics and various technologies, they develop engineered step-by-step processes for other technicians to use when troubleshooting or repairing circuit cards, modules, and electronic systems.

According to Huntron, a supplier of tools for DoD engineers and technicians who test, diagnose and troubleshoot printed circuit assemblies, the program yielded $37,163,983 in cost avoidance in FY14 by affecting 8,367 repairs from 564 casualty reports. Since the program began in FY96, Huntron has reported a cost avoidance of $679.49 million for the Navy. The total cost to fund the program since FY96 has been $70.83 million, resulting in a $608.66 million savings.

Photos by MC1 Trevor Welsh

This year’s FMMS carries the theme “Build.

Maintain. Modernize. Shaping the Future Fleet". The symposium is an annual event that brings together the naval ship maintenance and modernization community and features guest speakers, panelists and presentations from Navy, Coast Guard, industry and academia. It provides an opportunity to learn from and interact with senior military and civil service decision makers, ship and craft operators and maintainers, repair and maintenance personnel, designers, builders, planners, engineers, program managers, life cycle engineers, equipment suppliers and other technical experts. *

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Navy Successfully Conducts AN/SPY-6(V) Radar Missile Defense Test Photo by U.S. Navy

PACIFIC MISSILE RANGE FACILITY, Hawaii (NNS) -- The U.S. Navy successfully conducted a simultaneous Air and Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) flight test with the AN/SPY-6(V) Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) off the west coast of Hawaii, September 7.

At 1:38 p.m., Hawaii Standard Time, (7:38 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time) a short-range ballistic From PEO IWS missile target and multiple air-to- Public Affairs surface cruise missile targets were simultaneously launched. AN/SPY6(V) AMDR searched for, detected and maintained track on all targets throughout their trajectories. The flight test, designated "Vigilant Talon", is the third in a series of ballistic missile defense flight tests for the AN/SPY-6(V) AMDR. "This radar was specifically designed to handle ballistic missiles and cruise missiles simultaneously, and it's doing just that," said Capt. Seiko Okano, major program manager for Above Water Sensors, Program Executive Office (PEO) Integrated Warfare Systems (IWS).

"AMDR is successfully demonstrating performance in a series of increasingly difficult test events and is on track to deliver advanced capability to the Navy's first Flight III Destroyer."

Based on preliminary data, the test successfully met its primary objectives against a complex short range ballistic missile and multiple air-to-surface cruise missile simultaneous targets. Program officials will continue to evaluate system performance based upon telemetry and other data obtained during the test.

The culmination of over a decade of Navy investment in advanced radar technology, AN/SPY-6(V) AMDR is being designed for the DDG 51 Flight III destroyer to provide the U.S. Navy with state-of-the-art technology for Integrated Air and Missile Defense.

PEO IWS, an affiliated PEO of the Naval Sea Systems Command, manages surface ship and submarine combat technologies and systems and coordinates Navy enterprise solutions across ship platforms. *

Navy Completes First LRASM Free Flight from B-1B Lancer NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, Md. (NNS) -- The U.S. Navy and Lockheed Martin conducted the first free flight launch of the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) from a B-1B Lancer Aug. 16 over Point Mugu Sea Range in California.

This event marked the first end-to-end functionality test of LRASM, and proved the weapon's ability to identify and prosecute a moving target at sea.

During the test, aircrew aboard the B-1B from Edwards Air Force Base launched the missile over From Naval Air Point Mugu Sea Range. The missile Systems Command navigated through all planned waypoints, transitioned to midcourse guidance and flew toward the moving maritime target using inputs from the onboard multimodal sensor. It then descended to low altitude for final approach to the target area, and positively identified and impacted the target from among a group of ships.

"This test represents a major accomplishment for the LRASM program and the dedicated team of government and industry professionals committed to accelerated acquisition," said Capt. Todd Huber, LRASM director.

"Today marks a significant step towards providing the operational community with a leap in critical surface warfare capability by next year."

When operational, LRASM will play a significant role in ensuring military access to operate in open ocean and the littorals due to its enhanced ability to discriminate and conduct tactical engagements from extended ranges.

Early operational capability for the LRASM is slated for 2018 on the U.S. Air Force B-1 Lancer and 2019 on the U.S. Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. *

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Surface Force News USS Coronado Hits Target With Lethal, Harpoon Missile During Training Near Guam

Photos by MC2 Kaleb R. Staples

GUAM (NNS) -- The Littoral Combat Ship USS Coronado (LCS 4) conducted a successful live-fire of the Harpoon block 1C missile off the coast of Guam August 22, striking a surface target at significant distance beyond the ship's visual range.

Coronado's successful firing of the Harpoon over-the-horizon missile From CTF 73 system demonstrates the lethality of Public Affairs LCS while deployed.

"LCS will play an important role in protecting shipping and vital U.S. interests in the maritime crossroads," said Rear Adm. Don Gabrielson, commander, Task Force 73. "Its ability to pair unmanned vehicles like Fire Scout with Harpoon missiles to strike from the littoral shadows matters - there are more than 50,000 islands in the arc from the Philippines to India; those shallow crossroads are vital world interests. Harpoon and Fire Scout showcase one of the growing tool combinations in our modular LCS capability set and this complex shot demonstrates why LCS has Combat as its middle name."

An MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned aerial system and MH60S Seahawk helicopter, both part of Coronado's rotarywing air detachment, provided targeting support for the Harpoon missile.

"Our crew and air detachment really came together as a team to accomplish this live-fire event," said Cmdr. Douglas Meagher, commanding officer of Coronado. "Our Sailors worked hard to prepare for this exercise and I'm extremely proud of the way they performed."

Harpoon is an all-weather, over-the-horizon weapon designed to execute anti-ship missions against a range of surface targets. It can be launched from surface ships,

submarines and aircraft and is currently used on 50 U.S. Navy ships: 22 cruisers, 21 Flight I destroyers, seven Flight II destroyers, and select littoral combat ships.

Coronado's successful strike on a target using the Harpoon missile system follows a test fire of the Harpoon that was conducted in July, 2016 during Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC). Lessons from the RIMPAC test informed preparations and helped set the team up for success this time.

"USS Coronado's success in a real-world deployment of the harpoon missile system is a result of how we are changing the way we operate and think about LCS," said Capt. Lex Walker, commodore, Destroyer Squadron 7. "By focusing on how a deployed LCS fits in the larger maritime domain with regional partners, we are ensuring a secure and cooperative regional environment while increasing the ship's capabilities."

Task Force 73 and Destroyer Squadron 7 staff conduct advanced planning, organize resources and directly support the execution of maritime exercises such as the bilateral Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) series, Naval Engagement Activity (NEA) with Vietnam and the multilateral Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training (SEACAT) with Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. *

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From: Lt.Cmdr. Cameron Ingram, Commanding Officer USS Zephyr (PC 8) Lt.Cmdr. Matthew Arndt, Commanding Officer USS Shamal (PC 13) To:

Surface Warfare Magazine:

Subj: Patrol Craft Employment in the Caribbean.

In August of 2017, coastal patrol ships USS Zephyr (PC13) and USS Shamal (PS8) began their fifth and sixth patrols, respectively, in the Caribbean.

While on patrol, Zephyr and Shamal are tasked with locating, targeting, pursuing, interdicting, and detaining suspected drug runners within the region.

Since the decommissioning of the guided missile frigates, the PCs have been the only consistently operational US naval surface assets available to conduct the counter narcotic mission throughout the Caribbean. Since the start of their first patrols in the fall of 2015, Zephyr and Shamal have accumulated 510 days of employment within theater. Combined they have interdicted and processed 2,480 kilos of cocaine, 2,000 lbs. of marijuana valued at $68.6 million, detained 36 suspected smugglers, and sunk six drug smuggling vessels deemed hazards to navigation.

They embark a Coast Guard Tactical Law Enforcement Team (TACLET) from either Pacific or Southern commands, and a Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Team (MSST) of boat coxswains and maintainers from their Houston, Texas or Kings Bay, Ga. commands.

They are equipped with a Coast Guard over-the-horizon rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB). The evolved RHIB contains a high capacity engine, a surface search radar, and enhanced communication and navigation suites that allows the TACLET team to conduct interdictions beyond the launching platform’s line of sight.

Photo by MC3 Brenton Poyser

The Zephyr and Shamal are also outfitted with multiple Pumas, an unmanned remote controlled aircraft, which allow for long range searching and tracking of suspected targets of interest.

On patrol the crews will experience port visits to various islands throughout the Caribbean. While Zephyr and Shamal operate widely throughout the entire Caribbean, they forward stage logistic support and supplies at the USCG Sector in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The support from the USCG Maintenance Assist Team has been crucial in remaining operationally viable as they have assisted in repairing numerous underway limiting casualties.

The Mayport-based ships, under the operational command of Naval Forces Southern Command - Fourth Fleet (C4F), conduct 60-75 day counter illicit trade (CIT) patrols to the Caribbean in support of the Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATF-S). Their primary mission is to support Operation Martillo in the prevention of illicit trafficking of narcotics, and Operation Unified Resolve, the defense of Puerto Rico’s economic sovereignty in the maritime domain.

The Zephyr and Shamal patrol rotation will be joined by the USS Tornado (PC 14) in 2018 as she emerges from a more than two year dry dock availability. The conditions in which these ships are operating far exceeds that of their original design, and requires a unique set of skilled sailors with an abundance of ownership, dedication, resolve, and toughness. The cross-departmental training, support, and camaraderie that exists among the PC crews is unmatched. They are a remarkably committed team with an unbreakable cohesion that is laser focused on fighting to win! *

Photo by MC3 Casey J. Hopkins

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By Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet Public Affairs

“The mission of the Navy is to maintain, train and equip combatready Naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression and maintaining freedom of the seas.”

he country and people of Sri Lanka were devastated this summer when heavy rainfall brought by a monsoon led to massive flooding and landslides throughout the country. Nearly half a million people were displaced from damaged homes and buildings, or flooded areas. In the wake of this disaster that shattered many regions of Sri Lanka, USS Lake Erie (CG 70) arrived in Colombo, June 11, to provide humanitarian assistance in support of relief efforts. Because of the long-standing friendship between the United States and Sri Lanka, and the Navy’s forward presence throughout the globe, Lake Erie was able to respond quickly with critically needed capabilities. This is just one of many functions of your Surface Navy: to be where it counts, when it counts.

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What mission guides all actions of the Surface Navy?

“The mission of the Navy is to maintain, train and equip combat-ready Naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression and maintaining freedom of the seas.”

How is this mission achieved?

Sea control means total control of the seas for the free movement of all. It means control of set air, surface, and subsurface areas, when and where needed. Sea control is crucial to national strategy. It allows the Navy to use the oceans as barriers for defense and as avenues to extend influence and assistance where it is needed. Well suited for strategic placement the world over, the surface force employs hundreds of units with advanced capabilities to achieve this function.

Power projection is the ability to use sea power throughout the world in the timely and precise manner needed to accomplish a goal. This covers a wide area. This is accomplished by using a broad spectrum of offensive naval operations. These operations include the tactical employment of carrier-based aircraft and these of amphibious forces and naval gunfire support forces. They also include the strategic nuclear response by the fleet ballistic missile forces. The functions of sea control and

Presence M atters

power projection are closely related. Depending on the type of force at play, there needs to be some degree of sea control in the sea areas from which we are to project power.

The Navy developed the surface force’s capability to project power largely as one means of achieving or supporting control of the seas. To fill this very broad and general mission statement, the many functions of the of surface forces include nuclear deterrence; maintaining forward presence; keeping lines of communication open, safe and secure; leading enhanced training missions with ally and partner navies to exchange and train tactics, techniques and procedures; providing and assisting in regional security and stability; controlling and maintaining the freedom of the seas; reconnaissance and intelligence missions; at-sea rescues; medical programs for ally and partner nations in need of aid, care and training; and assisting the EPA and other government and non-government organizations with marine cleanup.

Photo by MC3 Nathan Burke

Naval Presence means more than being at the right place at the right time to combat and deter aggression - it means maintaining an operationally ready forward presence to train with ally and partner nations to enhance interoperability and responding at a moment’s notice to provide humanitarian assistance, as demonstrated by Lake Erie’s presence in Sri Lanka. Other ships like USS Sterett (DDG 104) and USS Dewey (DDG 105) who are part of the second “Third Fleet Forward” Surface Action Group and are currently maintaining presence in the Western Pacific while operating with regional navies to conduct routine patrols, maritime security operations and theater security cooperation activities to enhance regional security and stability in the region.

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Partnerships M atter Common interests among the maritime partners allow allied naval forces to implement and sustain economic security assuring safe and secure commerce on the world’s oceans. It also creates and sustains bonds between nations that make responding at a second’s notice to an ally in need, second nature. Ships such as Lake Erie assisting Sri Lanka, or the Sri Lanka navy assisting USS Hopper (DDG 70) in an emergency medical evacuation Sept. 30, 2016. Navy officials called on our partner navy to assist Hopper, which was more than 165 miles from shore and didn’t have an embarked helicopter aboard nor were they in close range to available U.S. air assets.

Within hours, Hopper was approved to enter Sri Lankan territorial waters to conduct the medical evacuation via small boat. The medical team provided continuous care for the patient while Hopper made the best speed to get closer to Sri Lanka.

Platforms M atter

Photo by MC1 Byron C. Linder

Surface Warfare is the integrator in today’s warfighting disciplines from the tactical to the theater level. The focus of visible U.S. military power and presence is the combat–ready warship operating forward. Therefore, the success of U.S. military power hinges on surface combatants. Prioritizing #WarfightingFirst, creates a strict hierarchy of readiness goals (combat, material and personal) that ensure these many surface combatants are fit to fight. USS Chancellorsville (CG 62), was awarded the Spokane Trophy, an annual award presented to the U.S. Pacific Fleet’s surface ship with the highest level of operational readiness in areas ranging from coordinated air warfare, surface warfare and undersea warfare operations.

Be R eady

Photo by MC2 Andrew Schneide

The U.S. Navy has the distinction and responsibility of being the world’s leading naval power – complete with the surface combatant ships most commonly associated with naval power. America’s Navy is a force as significant today as it has been since 1775. In an increasingly globalized and ever changing world, new challenges will continue to arise and threats will transform and grow more resilient. The multifarious nature of the vast expanse of sea makes the requirement for a robust naval presence all-the-more indispensable. Now, more than ever, the value of a strong and capable Surface Navy is something to be cognizant of, thankful for and necessary for our continued success. *

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'Up-Gunned ESG' Concept Moves Forward in Talisman Saber 17 Story From Expeditionary Strike Group 7 Public Affairs

Flanked by a U.S. destroyer and four Australian frigates, the Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group successfully executed elements of the 'Up-Gunned ESG' concept while participating in more than two weeks of live action training as part of Talisman Saber 2017.

Flanked by a U.S. destroyer and four Australian frigates, the Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group successfully executed elements of the 'UpGunned ESG' concept while participating in more than two weeks of live action training as part of Talisman Saber 2017 (TS17).

The Field Training Exercise (FTX) component of TS17 tested a combined and joint forces' ability to respond to a crisis situation. Amphibious forces played a critical role in seizing objectives ashore that allowed a land force led by Australian Army's 3rd Brigade to deliver stability further.

Throughout the exercise, the combined U.S.Australia-New Zealand amphibious force defended against opposing exercise forces in the air, surface, and undersea domains while providing combat power against both those forces and opposing forces ashore.

The scenarios allowed the ESG to flex its sensors, weapons, and maneuverability; attaining sea control and projecting power ashore.

"Australia has become one of our most capable amphibious allies in the region. Together we showed during Talisman Saber 17 that we are ready to fight our way into the littorals and simultaneously control

Photo by Royal Australian Navy/LSIS Helen Frank)

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the seas and land," said Rear Adm. Marc Dalton, commander, Expeditionary Strike Group 7 and commander of the combined amphibious force for the exercise. "I couldn't be prouder of our combined team. We integrated our warfare commanders, ships and embarked ground forces to take the fight to the opposing forces successfully."

Talisman Saber is a biennial exercise that unites more than 33,000 U.S. and Australian personnel to build on partnerships, interoperability and the ability to respond to contingencies in the region. The exercise also doubled as ESG 7's certification exercise to remain the Navy's only forward-deployed certified expeditionary strike group staff.

The myriad of maritime threats put ESG watchstanders to the test. Sailors manning watch stations in their unit's combat information center (CIC) had to remain vigilant in using pre-planned responses and simulating employment of weapons systems in defense of the ships at sea. As some watchstanders worked to determine a sub's location, others were coordinating attacks to destroy opposition surface ships.

The Royal Australian Navy Fleet Battle Staff embarked the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) to perform duties as the Sea Combat Commander, managing U.S. and Australian surface forces, multi-mission helicopters, and shore-based maritime patrol aircraft to take control of the surface and undersea from opposing ships and submarines.

While the Fleet Battle Staff was on Bonhomme Richard, the Adelaide-class guided-missile frigate HMAS Darwin (FFG 04) was in charge of the air defense of the ESG, keenly monitoring the skies and directing surface-to-air fire when needed.

Both Australian-led warfare areas were critical to the survivability of the force.

"It was professionally and personally rewarding to be a part of something like this, where we could feel so integrated and part of a fantastic team to accomplish the mission," said Lt. Cmdr. Aaron Scott, future operations officer for the Fleet Battle Staff.

"The grouping of Australian frigates alongside the USS Sterrett allowed us to fold in tenets of distributed lethality, effectively using a number of sensors and weapons to protect the force. It was impressive to see how we were able to leverage each other's capabilities to achieve a combined effect." Talisman Saber was also the venue for testing capabilities across a broad spectrum.

To add increased capability, Bonhomme Richard embarked MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopters assigned to the "Saberhawks" of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 77 who are deployed with the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 77). While the concept has Story continued on next page

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Photos by MC1 Byron C. Linder

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been used in exercises like Rim of the Pacific, it was the first time MH-60Rs were embarked on Bonhomme Richard in the Forward Deployed Naval Force.

MH-60Rs provide long-range surface search and undersea search capabilities, as well as offensive firepower within the Up-Gunned ESG concept.

"It was great to work with a coalition partner and practice these skill sets," said Cmdr. Newt McKissick, executive officer of the Saberhawks. "It was also a rewarding experience to partner with the Marine Corps and contribute Navy air capability."

The exercise was also an opportunity for the ESG to conduct its primary mission: launching Marines ashore.

A wave of landing craft and U.S. Marine Corps aircraft transported 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) Marines and equipment to landing zones at various junctures in the exercise.

MEU Marines trained with the Australian Army within the framework of crisis response once ashore.

The expeditious offload of Marines ashore

"It was great to work with a coalition partner and practice these skill sets," said Cmdr. Newt McKissick, executive officer of the "Saberhawks." "It was also a rewarding experience to partner with the Marine Corps and contribute Navy air capability."

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"Amphibious forces remain the heart of the ESG and our Sailors, ships and landing craft personnel did an amazing job off-loading the Marines safely and efficiently,"

Photos by MC3 Jonathan Clay

demonstrated ship-to-shore amphibious capability.

"Amphibious forces remain the heart of the ESG and our Sailors, ships and landing craft personnel did an amazing job off-loading the Marines safely and efficiently," said Capt.

George Doyon, commander, Amphibious Squadron 11, who commanded the amphibious operations for the strike group.

"This exercise has challenged and made us better. I am confident we could stand together with Australia to respond to a contingency."

The U.S.-Australia-New Zealand amphibious force is the aggregate of a U.S.led expeditionary strike group, an Australianled amphibious task group, and a number of Australian and U.S. escort ships. The Royal Australian Navy amphibious assault ship HMAS Canberra (L02) has been serving as the amphibious assault ship counterpart to Bonhomme Richard.

The U.S. contribution to the expeditionary strike group consisted of USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6), USS Green Bay (LPD 20); USS Ashland (LSD 48); USS Sterett (DDG 104); Naval Beach Unit 7, Sea Helicopter Combat Squadron (HSC) 25; Tactical Squadron (TACRON) 12; and the embarked 31st MEU. MEU personnel include nearly 2,300 Marines from Battalion Landing Team, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, Combat Logistics Battalion 31, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 265 (Reinforced) and Marine Attack Squadron 311. *

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USS Sterett 'Up Guns' the BHR Expeditionary Strike Group for Talisman Saber 17 Story By Byron C. Linder, Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class, USS Sterett Public Affairs

CORAL SEA (NNS) -- Watchstanders hover over chart tables, plotting courses as they assess possible tracks of an Australian submarine posing as an opposing force.

Sailors at consoles "hook" tracks and report inbound aircraft, signaling to the tactical action officer that queries and other pre-planned responses need to be made.

For the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Sterett (DDG 104), the ship's combat information center is routinely abuzz as the ship manages a number of missions, often simultaneously.

But here at U.S.-Australian bilateral exercise Talisman Saber 17, Sterett is playing a different role than it normally would. It is taking commands and direction from an amphibious flagship, alongside Australian frigates with similar sensors and defense capabilities.

At the onset of Talisman Saber 17, Sterett joined a combined U.S.-Australia-New Zealand Expeditionary Strike Group, led by the forward-deployed amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6). The addition of Sterett moves forward the U.S. Pacific Fleet's 'Up-Gunned' Expeditionary Strike Group concept, where a traditional amphibious ready group (ARG) is escorted by multi-mission ships like Sterett.

Sterett and partnered Australian frigates are contributing a robust set of offensive and defensive capabilities to ensure the amphibious ships can move into the littorals and land forces ashore.

"Sterett has conducted numerous bilateral exercises during the course of our deployment, and Talisman Saber is another great opportunity to work with our Australian partners and allies," said Cmdr. Claudine Caluori, Sterett's commanding officer. "Talisman Saber provides our Sailors several unique opportunities to showcase the skills we've honed over the course of deployment, and we look forward to contributing to the ESG's defense."

Flight quarters, flight quarters, flights quarters.

It's 4 a.m. and Sailors aboard Sterett are manning up to launch one of its embarked helicopters, an MH-60R from Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 49.

Within the construct of the exercise, Sterett and "Red Stinger," are hunting a submarine and need to remain extra vigilant.

While amphibious ships have organic capability to

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" The MH-60R has a number of capabilities that allow us search and potentially prosecute submarines, as well as contribute to a common maritime picture"

Photos by MC3 Jonathan Clay

defend against air, surface, and subsurface threats, the inherent capabilities of Sterett and its helicopter detachment expand the survivability of the amphibious force.

"The MH-60R has a number of capabilities that allow us search and potentially prosecute submarines, as well as contribute to a common maritime picture," said Lt. Cmdr. Troy Leveron, from Ferdinand, Indiana, detachment Office-in-Charge for HSM 49. "Being able to employ our capabilities, within a joint and combined environment is important to all of us honing our skills" Augmenting the airborne abilities is Sterett's shipboard Sonar Technician (Surface) watch team, who are trained to notice subtle differences in the ocean's bathometry and sound waves to detect submarines.

"We have a really great team," said Lt. j.g. Kiefer Bohn, from Las Cruces, New Mexico and Sterett's ASW officer. "We're excited to do what we're supposed to be doing - the sonar technicians are here [aboard Sterett] to track submarines, so giving them the opportunity to do that is pretty exciting."

Talisman Saber is a biennial exercise which unites 33,000 U.S. and Australian personnel to build on partnerships, interoperability and the ability to respond to contingencies in the region.

Sterett, deployed under the U.S. 3rd Fleet Forward initiative, is on a regularly-scheduled deployment to the Western Pacific. Third Fleet operating forward offers additional options to the Pacific Fleet commander by leveraging the capabilities of 3rd and 7th Fleets. This operational concept allows both numbered fleets to complement one another and provide the foundation of stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. *

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“CONFIDENCE AND COMPETENCE” Vice Adm. Thomas Rowden released Warfighting Serial #13, titled Confidence and Competence on September 15, which calls on unit commanders to take increased measures to ensure the safety and readiness of our forces.

The “Warfighting Serials” are messages used by Rowden to convey thoughts, important discussion points and direction to the leaders (i.e. commanders, commodores, commanding officers, command senior enlisted leaders, department heads, etc.) of the surface force. Confidence and Competence directs commanders to take specific actions to ensure increased safety and preparedness of their units, at sea and in port. Rowden is taking a steadfast stance on ensuring ships are receiving appropriate time to conduct training and pre-deployment certifications, and expecting increased ownership of the processes in place, and creating a culture of standardization across the fleet.

Ownership and involvement at the commanding officer and immediate superior in command levels ensures the manning, material readiness and training necessary are aligned for accurate “talent to task” placement for task success.

On a larger scale, Rowden, in conjunction with direction by Adm. Scott Swift, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, is standing up the Naval Surface Group Western Pacific (NSGWP) command to address the time-for-training concern of ships. NSGWP will consolidate authorities to oversee the training and certification of surface combatants assigned to Forward Deployed Naval Forces Japan (FDNF-J). NSGWP will also focus on addressing the organizational gap that allowed a culture to grow myopically focused on operations to the detriment of readiness.

Additionally, Ready for Sea Assessments are being conducted for all surface forces, starting with FDNF-J cruisers and destroyers, in order to review the ship's critical mission areas for operating at sea. Assessments will also include each ship’s manning documents, critical Navy Enlisted Classification billets, critical school requirements, certification/recurring event completion status, material readiness of critical equipment and

By Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet Public Affairs

systems, and the command’s utilization of the plan, brief, execute, and debrief (PBED) and operational risk management (ORM) programs.

“CONFIDENCE AND COMPETENCE” DIRECTED ACTIONS Establish standard commanding officer standing orders, engineering standing orders, and battle orders to ensure simplicity, directivity, and commonality in order to provide common business rules for watchstanders across all platforms and surface ships.

Notwithstanding fleet commander direction, missionspecific operational security (OPSEC), emission control (EMCON), or force protection conditions, AIS shall be transmitted while transiting any traffic separation scheme and/or any high density traffic area.

Effective immediately, any casualty to critical ship controlling equipment/systems impacting navigation, steering, propulsion control, and/or installed damage control equipment will be Category (CAT)-3 casualty reports (CASREP), unless the Joint Fleet Maintenance Manual (JFMM) rules dictate CAT-4. Any equipment/ system degradation triggering redline criteria will bear a minimum CAT-3 CASREP, an accompanying mitigation plan, and a request for continued operation to be reviewed by the cognizant fleet commander.

Casualty reports allow operational commanders and support personnel to be alerted to the status of

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significant equipment malfunctions that may result in the degradation of a unit's readiness. Casualty reports vary from Category 2-4, with Category 4 being the most severe and mission impacting casualties.

Redlines are minimum standards a ship must maintain for safely getting underway and remaining underway. Redlines in and of themselves do not ensure safe operations at sea, but lay the foundation when coupled with other programs, including certifications and Operational Risk Management, to safely operate at sea.

Immediate Superiors In Command and commanding officers are directed to assess all inport, underway, special evolution watchbills and watch team replacement plans for both qualification accuracy and watchstander proficiency.

All units shall report, evaluate, and train to lessons learned from incidents and near misses. Formal requirements for such will be codified in near-term guidance based upon our need to identify causal factors and learning opportunities from these events.

NAVAL SURFACE GROUP WESTERN PACIFIC ESTABLISHMENT Naval Surface Group Western Pacific (NSGWP) will oversee the maintenance and readiness of forward deployed ships with the authority to determine when a ship is ready for operational tasking or, conversely, not certified for operations and requires remedial training.

NSGWP will focus on overall readiness for the operational deployment of ships. In contrast to current Afloat Training Group (ATG) assessments, ATG only assesses individual warfare areas, such as damage control, anti-terrorism, navigation, etc., but has no authority or oversight in regards to maintenance.

Whereas, NSGWP will continually monitor and amend any maintenance deficiencies in addition to managing the operational certification process.

The formation and development of NSGWP as a command will take place over the next six months. Its only focus will be FDNF-J ships. A marked change from our current FDNF model is that NSGWP will not allow a ship to receive operational tasking if it does not pass the necessary benchmarks.

NSGWP will be led by Capt. Rich Dromerhauser.

“The Surface Navy operates under the tenets of being Forward, Visible and Ready –”, said Dromerhauser.

“And I fully take to on board the CNO’s point; we must understand that the enduring strength of our Surface Force can only be built on a foundation of solid readiness.”

FORCE WIDE CIRCADIAN RHYTHM IMPLEMENTATION All CNSF ships shall implement circadian rhythm watchbills and shipboard routines aboard their ships and commands No Later Than 20 DEC 2017.

In a previous Warfighting Serials, Vice Adm. Rowden released guidance on the implementation of circadian rhythm routines for surface ships.

Research by the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) has conclusively linked the importance of sleep to safe, professional watchstanding.

Research has shown that 21 hours without sleep results in a degree of impairment equivalent to a blood alcohol content of 0.08 -legally drunk.

You would not operate your car under these conditions; we should not ask our crews to stand watch and operate shipboard systems in a similar mental and physical state.

Employed together, circadian rhythm watchbills and shipboard routines combat fatigue. They provide our Sailors with a predictable watch rotation and protected sleep periods that recognize the human circadian rhythm. It should be emphasized that the utilization of both circadian rhythm watchbills and complimentary shipboard routines are required to successfully manage fatigue.

Littoral combat (LCS), mine countermeasure (MCM) and patrol coastal (PC) ships are exempt from this order, due to their unit mission sets and manning constructs. However, commanding officers should implement the principles and practices to the best of their ability.

For more information on the message release, see message titled “Force-Wide Circadian Rhythm Implementation

READY FOR SEA ASSESSMENTS Following the Operational Pause and comprehensive review tasked by the CNO, Adm. Swift directed a second phase of action focused on a deliberate reset for the readiness of all Pacific Fleet surface ships.

As part of phase two, Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet is conducting Ready For Sea Assessments (RFSA). The two-day assessments will specifically focus on readiness of FDNF-J ships, and then expand to the entire Pacific Fleet.

Assessments are in progress on FDNF-J warships, with a focus on the critical mission areas of navigation, propulsion, steering, communications and damage control. Operational demand and the assessments will be closely coordinated with the operational commander, U.S. 7th Fleet. *

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Navy’s Role in Finding USS Indianapolis Co-authored by Dr. Richard Hulver, Ph.D., historian and Robert Neyland, Ph.D., Underwater Archaeology Branch Head, Naval History and Heritage Command.

Editor’s Note: It was announced (August 19th) that the wreckage of the World War II cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA 35) was located by a team of civilian researchers led by entrepreneur and philanthropist Paul G. Allen. The search was aided by historical and archaeological support from the Naval History and Heritage Command. Just last year, NHHC uncovered information about the ship’s loss which shed new light on where the ship might have gone down.

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Historical photos by Naval Historical Center Illustrated by Ted Townsend

ver the past 70 years, the USS Indianapolis sinking has often been a misunderstood, and overly sensationalized episode in the U.S. Navy’s World War II history. Instead of focusing on the commendable service of a decorated combat ship, and on the ordeal faced by her final crew, emphasis is placed on shark attacks and the treatment of the ship’s commanding officer, Captain Charles B. McVay, III. Last year, Director of Naval History and Heritage Command, Samuel Cox (RADM, retired) stood up a team consisting of historians and underwater archaeologists to revisit the sinking. Their job was to ensure an accurate history was readily available to the public and the Navy, and to see if any new light might be shed on the final resting place of one of the Navy’s most storied ships. The revisit came with exciting new conclusions. . .

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Why was Indianapolis so hard to find?

Here’s what we determined: First, all of the ship’s mission records and logs went down with Indianapolis in the frantic 15 minutes it took her to sink after suffering two torpedo hits from Japanese submarine I-58. Secondly, it took the Navy four days to realize that Indianapolis was missing; that discovery was made when she failed to show up for her port visit. To make matters more difficult, the precise coordinates keyed out in an S.O.S. signal (that never left the ship) were forgotten by the surviving radiomen and were not received by USN ships or shore establishments. The coordinates reported by Japanese submarine I-58 as the location of the sinking were not recovered in the U.S. intercept of the message.

Upon being rescued on 3 August 1945, Capt. McVay reported to his rescuers that Indianapolis was exactly on the course where it was supposed to be when hit.

All of these led to the Navy selecting the position where Indianapolis should have been along her route at 0015 20 July if following her routing instructions exactly as the point where she went down. A closer historic analysis reveals that this exact adherence to

the prescribed route was not the reality, so NHHC went looking for better information.

Several reports filed shortly after the Indianapolis rescue concluded mention that the ship passed an unspecified LST approximately 11 hours before Indianapolis was attacked. This LST was reported

by Capt. McVay to have been on the same track as Indianapolis, but maneuvering northward at the time of the passing to conduct anti-aircraft gunnery practice.

Authors of Indianapolis books recalled this passing, but never endeavored to identify the LST. Because all U.S. Navy combatant ships were supposed to record their positions at 0800, 1200, and 2000 each day in their deck logs, NHHC historian Richard Hulver determined that identifying the LST that passed by Indianapolis could provide a critical piece of unknown information from Indianapolis’s final day. Finding the LST and then finding its coordinates would provide researchers a new data point along the route of Indianapolis and possibly help determine a more precise position for where she was attacked.

“In terms of what’s next? There remains a lot we can learn. From the sinking to the battle damage and site formation processes, we hope to gain a better

Photo by MC3 Burt Eichen

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Photo by MC3 Burt Eichen

understanding about the wreck site and how we can better protect USS Indianapolis to honor the service of the ship and crew.”

A Memorial Day blog post written by the son of a passenger on the LST that reportedly passed by Indianapolis, coupled with historic research in U.S. Navy muster rolls and deck logs, finally revealed the identity of the mysterious ship as LST-779 which followed the same route across the Philippine Sea as Indianapolis during the same time. She did not specifically mention being passed by Indianapolis in her deck logs, but did recount in detail the gunnery practice at 1300 on 29 July recounted by Captain McVay in his post-rescue interview. The 1200 coordinate of LST779, her set and drift recording, and the timing of her gunnery practice all gave indications that Indianapolis was most likely not exactly on the routing track as historically believed—something not surprising because the captain of a combatant ship could deviate from the track up to 40 miles, or 3 hours without having to report it to the port of arrival. This new information renewed public and scholarly interest in the Indianapolis story and helped spark a surge of explorers eager to locate the sacred resting place of the heavy cruiser, one of which

was the team of civilian researchers led by entrepreneur and philanthropist Paul G. Allen.

What’s Next for USS Indianapolis? Connecting History with Underwater Archaeology USS Indianapolis is a fit and final resting place and serves as a war grave. As a U.S. Navy shipwreck it is protected from disturbance under the Sunken Military Craft Act. Now that the wreck site has been discovered, our Underwater Archaeology Branch will carefully review and assess the data associated with the discovery.

Doing so will enable the U.S. Navy to better understand its sinking and the present condition of the site. There are presently no plans to engage in any form of recovery from USS Indianapolis. In terms of what’s next? There remains a lot we can learn. From the sinking to the battle damage and site formation processes, we hope to gain a better understanding about the wreck site and how we can better protect USS Indianapolis to honor the service of the ship and crew.

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USS Indianapolis Timeline of Events

First Contact • Approximately 2230 Sunday 29 July: McVay orders ship to stop zig-zagging due to weather conditions ✇✇ Ships speeds up to 17 knots • 2335-I-58 surfaced, shortly after under an east moon, saw a silhouette using binoculars set on power of 10.

Dove to 19m, target on bow was 0° bearing range 10,000 meters. Thinks it is a surfaced submarine because it is high in the middle. Following dive, target visible through periscope.

Departure • 16 July 1945: Departs San Francisco for high speed transit to Tinian with A-bomb components for uranium bomb “Little Boy”—crew, including Captain McVay unaware of what they carry • 19 July 1945: Reaches Pearl Harbor (sets speed record), unloads passengers, sails for Tinian • 26 July 1945: Arrives in Tinian, unloads secret cargo, given routing instructions to return to Philippines and the forward area of the war • 0900 28 July 1945: Departs Guam for Leyte, direct route, unescorted, orders to report to Vice Admiral Oldendorf upon arrival for much needed training prior to planned invasion of Japanese mainland ✇✇ Follows “Convoy Route Peddie,” travels at 15.7 knots, planned arrival 1100 Tuesday 31 July ✇✇ Supposed to cross the 130° chop line between Philippines Sea Frontier and Marianas Monday 30 July

• 2338: Hashimoto orders crew to battle stations, turns left and toward target setting attack course. Target is below the moon and approaching him. Still does not know what it is.

• 2339: Orders shooting method six, will fire a spread of 6 torpedoes. Kaiten number six on standby. He estimates a target speed of 11-12 knots (likely assumes that target was would be zigzagging).

• 2348: Kaiten number 5 put on standby. Target still approaching under the course at 0° on bow. Hashimoto determines it has no hostile intention. Continues to approach, at about 3000 meters he knows it is coming towards the right, he now sees that it has fore and aft mast.

• 2356: He begins shouting all torpedoes are on their way by 0002 on 30 July.

• 0003: Watches one torpedo hit, sees flames rise at No. 1 turret, followed by three water columns.

• 0004: Hears four torpedo hit, sounds and propellers cease, ship reportedly stops (this is not the same as the Indianapolis’s report). ✇✇ 0005: Indianapolis survivors report violent explosion [around frame 7 starboard], then shortly after -2-5 seconds] another [frame 50 starboard at ICC room]. Initial list is gradual to about 3°-5°.

Entire forward portion of ship engulfed in a blaze, bow nearly torn off, rapid flooding ensues.

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Power Lost ••Ship continues moving throughout. The two torpedo hits forward and starboard likely lifted the ship and placed it on a trajectory toward port. The crew lost the power to steer almost immediately. Power was lost to the engines in the forward engine room, which controlled the outboard screws.

Power was lost to one of the engines in the after engine room, which controlled the inboard screws. The functioning inboard engine maintained 160rpms. So, within minutes all screws except one inboard would have slowed. The bow was ripped off and rapidly taking on water. The ship would have slowed considerably from the 17 knots it was making when hit. The crew recollects the ship losing way and circling to port. So, most likely, the ship slowed down to a few knots, going down by the bow with a gradual, then, extreme starboard list, while veering off to port.

Abandon Ship • 0008: McVay orders Navigator to go to Radio I and deliver SOS w/ coordinates.

• 0010: List is at 12°, McVay orders further investigation before issuing “Abandon Ship.” From bridge, he feels it can be saved • 0015: Executive Officer reports “The bow is down, I think we are finished”, “Abandon Ship” issued.

McVay tries to get to radio room to ensure the distress call went out.

While going from navigation to signal bridge, the ship lurched to 25° and steadied. The ship circled to port slowly.

••0020: Ship sinks [10 knot wind from SW, slight swell from west, drift slightly under 1 knot] ✇✇Ship traveled an estimated 2 miles before slowing to 3 knots and sinking ✇✇Approximately 700-900 sailors go into water out of a crew of 1,199 (approximately 400 go down with ship) ✇✇Nature of the sinking prevents all 35 rafts being deployed (approximately 12 are)

• 0016: List to 30°, 45° by time McVay reached communication platform, only stays at 45°a few seconds.

••0030: There are no more sounds; he can’t see any ship on the surface through his periscope. Hashimoto returns to the scene submerged running.

• 0017-0018: List to 65°, then 90° (reportedly stays at 90° about 2 minutes). McVay climbed over the rail and walked on the shell to frame 110.

• 0020: Ship plunges by the head, rolling completely over, assuming an “up and down” as she sinks.

Stern completely vertical before going under. Port screws visible to McVay and not turning.

• 0021: There are flickers of light at the center of the ship, Hashimoto hears 10 secondary explosions, 4 or five are louder than torpedo hits would be. He fears counter attack, so puts target at his stern and makes distance between them, prepares for a second attack.

••0100: I-58 surfaces in good moonlight at the position the ship would have sank, determines that they sank their target.

Survival/Rescue • Losses ✇✇ 316 out of 1,198 crew members survived the torpedoing and ordeal at sea ✇✇ 67 out of 81 officers lost, 808 enlisted crew perished ✇✇ Estimated that 200 were victims of shark attacks (approximately 50 men per day) *

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Destroyers: “Tin Can” Legacy Forged of Lethal Steel

Over the last 116 years, these U.S. Navy warships have the class, the Navy has implemented programs to made their name as the most unique and capable surface modernize the warships as they age, allowing the crews combatants. of both older and newer destroyers to monitor, detect This month will see the addition of two of the most and respond to any threat using the same modern Aegis lethal and advanced destroyers to ever cut through combat system. In this case, the latest upgrade of Aegis, the seas. Of the Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) class of called Baseline 9, brings enhanced ability to the anti-air destroyers, USS John Finn (DDG warfare and ballistic missile defense 113) was commissioned July 15th at capabilities to the ships.

Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Arleigh Burke Class: 1991-Present Hawaii; and USS Rafael Peralta This month will see the addition of two of the Named for Adm. Arleigh Burke, (DDG 115) was commissioned July the most famous American destroyer 29th at Naval Air Station North most lethal and advanced destroyers to ever cut officer of WW II, and later Chief Island, Coronado, California. Both of Naval Operations, these guidedare currently homeported at Naval through the seas. missile destroyers are multi-mission Base San Diego. surface combatants capable of These two ships will serve to conducting anti-air warfare, antiadvance the well-established stature submarine warfare, and anti-surface of the Arleigh Burke destroyers which have been in warfare. The class leader, USS Arleigh Burke (DDG service since 1991. Logging an incredible amount of 51), was commissioned in 1991, during Burke’s lifetime. water under their collective keels, a robust amount of Like most modern U.S. surface combatants, the DDG time is spanned between the oldest and newest ships 51 class is powered by gas turbine propulsion. They in the class. To bring continuity of capability across employ four gas turbines to produce 100,000 horsepower

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Destroyers, a.k.a., “Tin Cans”- the legendary Greyhounds of the Sea, have patrolled the world’s oceans with domineering force since 1902.

Story by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Trevor Welsh, Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet Public Affairs

USS Lynde McCormick (DDG-8) underway in 1974

Navy guided missile destroyer Photo by U.S. DefenseImagery

through two propellers. Arleigh Burke-class destroyers defensive arenas. These ships operate independently, as can achieve more than 30 knots in open seas, while part of a surface action group or as escorts within a carrier crewed by various sized crew complements. strike group. While the heritage is undeniable, of the These ships have been dominating the seas since 33 classes of destroyers, none can argue the versatility, 1991, and with combat system upgrades, shall continue lethality and dominance of the Arleigh Burke class since their reputation of durability and its introduction to the fleet. flexibility for years to come. The These advanced guided-missile Aegis software allows for streamline destroyers have been ensuring safety, integration – the state-of-the-art Through the years, destroyers have evolved stability and freedom of the seas system creates an environment for around the world for decades. They extreme and rapid use of technology, from small and agile close-quarter combatants have a proven track-record of being without extreme and rising cost to vital surface warriors, capable of the Navy. As a result, when the older, to ships capable of a multitude of mission sets in sea control, power projection, and modified Arleigh Burke crews put to offensive and defensive battle group sea, they won’t be relying on combat both the offensive and defensive arenas. support over land, air and sea. Their systems originated in the Cold War contribution to the Navy team has era – they’ll use the same, advanced been invaluable and irreplaceable. and evolving systems available to Sailors on the newly It is fitting that the destroyer’s remarkable 116-year commissioned USS John Finn and USS Rafael Peralta. legacy of service to the Navy will continue on with Through the years, destroyers have evolved from small the additions of USS John Finn (DDG 113) and USS and agile close-quarter combatants to ships capable of Rafael Peralta (DDG 115). * a multitude of mission sets in both the offensive and

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USS Rafael Peralta Commissioned in San Diego The Navy's newest Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, USS Rafael Peralta (DDG 115) was commissioned in a ceremony at Naval Air Station North Island, July 29. The ship is named in honor of Navy Cross recipient Marine Corps Sgt. Rafael Peralta. During the second battle of Fallujah, he smothered a grenade with his body, absorbing the majority of the blast. He was killed instantly, but saved the lives of his fellow Marines.

The Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Robert B. Neller, gave the principal address. In his remarks, he thanked the family of Rafael Peralta, in particular his mother, Rosa Maria Peralta.

"Thank you for raising a man of character and virtue," he said. "We need more people like him in our world."

Story and photos By Phil Ladoucuer, Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class

Neller said that a ship required three things: A hull, a name, and a crew.

"And when you put those three things together, you create more than just a ship; it's a lifeform," he said. "This is more than just another commissioning. It marks the commemoration of a life and the immortality of a hero. Sergeant Peralta's legacy will forever be part of this ship. All he ever wanted to be was an American, to serve his country."

Vice Adm. Nora Tyson, commander, Third Fleet, stepped up to the podium with the ship's commanding officer, Cmdr. Brian Ribota and placed the ship in commission.

"On behalf of the Secretary of the Navy and for the President of the United States, I hereby place United States Ship Rafael Peralta in commission," she said. "May God bless and guide this warship and all who shall sail in her."

Rosa Maria Peralta, mother of Sgt. Peralta, is the ship's sponsor. Her sponsorship duties saw her christen the ship in Bath, Maine and during the commissioning ceremony, she gave the order to the ship's crew to bring the ship to life, first in Spanish and then in English: "Officers and crew of USS Rafael Peralta, man our ship and bring her to life!"

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"Thank you for raising a man of character and virtue, we need more people like him in our world."

The crew enthusiastically replied from its formation on the pier.

"Aye, aye ma'am!" they yelled, and sprinted aboard the ship as the Navy Band Southwest played Anchors Aweigh, followed by a flyover by two U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Ospreys.

Cmdr. Ribota thanked the guests for attending the ceremony. He then reminded everyone of another constant presence.

"One last person who is here for us today, just three miles away, on Fort Rosecrans, where he is buried," he said. "Sgt. Rafael Peralta has the over watch and always will. We will always render honors as we come in and out of port here in San Diego."

Ribota also recognized the hard work and determination displayed by his crew - the men and women who made this special day possible.

"In less than three months

after moving aboard, they flawlessly sailed this 9,200ton greyhound over 6,000 miles to get here to San Diego," he said. "We have all come a long way in a very short time."

Peralta was born on April 7, 1979 in Mexico City, Mexico. The son of Rafael and Rosa Peralta, he was the oldest of four children. Immigrating to the United States with his family as a teenager, he graduated from Morse High School in San Diego, California in 1997.

He joined the United States Marine Corps in 2000, immediately after qualifying for a green card. He became an American citizen while serving in the Corps.

Arleigh Burke-class guidedmissile destroyer USS Rafael Peralta is a multi-mission surface combatant capable of conducting anti-air warfare, anti-submarine warfare, and anti-surface warfare. As a multimission platform, it is capable of sustained combat operations supporting forward presence, maritime security, sea control and deterrence. *

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USS John Finn Commissioned in Pearl Harbor Story By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jeff Troutman, Navy Public Affairs Support Element West Det. Hawaii Photos by MC2 Aiyana Paschal

One of the Navy's newest Arleigh Burke-class guidedmissile destroyer, USS John Finn (DDG 113), was brought to life and into the fleet July 15 at Hawaii's Pearl Harbor - a fitting commissioning venue, as the namesake's Dec. 7, 1941, heroic actions 30 miles away at Kaneohe Bay are the stuff of Navy legend.

Chief Aviation Ordnanceman John Finn, was World War II's first Medal of Honor recipient whom Adm. Chester Nimitz said displayed, "magnificent courage in the face of certain death" during the attack on Pearl Harbor and other Oahu military targets in 1941.

Finn manned a .50-caliber machine gun while under heavy enemy machine gun fire. Although wounded, he continued to fight until ordered to vacate his post to seek medical attention. Following first aid treatment, he returned to action and led the charge to rearm aircraft returning from missions.

John Finn is the 63rd Arleigh Burke-class destroyer and was delivered to the Navy from shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries on the 75th anniversary of the attacks on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 2016.

"I can't think of a more fitting place to commission this ship than right here at Pearl Harbor, where we can honor the legacy of John Finn and all Americans from the 'Greatest Generation' and reflect on the blessings and costs of liberty," remarked Adm. Harry Harris, Jr., commander, U.S. Pacific Command. "Thankfully, America has always been blessed to have strong women and men who find the will and summon the courage to endure against overwhelming odds; patriots like John Finn, who answered the call to defend our nation in her darkest hour."

Recognizing the ship's motto to "stand fast and fight," Harris praised the ship's firepower and capabilities as a testament to its namesake's readiness in battle and determination in the face of danger. The Navy's newest ship and her crew is ready to deliver - just like Chief Finn did as he manned a machine gun while wounded and under intense enemy fire.

"John Finn brings both the saber and the shield into the fight," said Harris. "Truly, the advanced combat systems, coupled with the innovative spirit and the killer

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instinct of her amazing crew, are powerful reminders of our readiness to fight tonight. This warship is the embodiment of America's resolve to protect our homeland and defend our allies."

Harris pointed out that the Aegiscapable destroyers like John Finn expand America's projection of power and leadership in the Pacific.

"We believe in peace through strength - smart power backed by hard power," Harris said. "And this ship, hard power personified, sends a clear signal to our allies, to our friends and to our adversaries we will remain laser focused on the Indo-Asia-Pacific because what happens here matters to the United States."

Approximately 2,000 guests, including more than 50 friends and relatives of John Finn's family, attended the commissioning ceremony.

The ship was officially placed in commission by Harris.

Its Commanding Officer, Cmdr. Micheal Wagner, a native of Minnesota, leads the crew of 300 officers and enlisted personnel and praised his crew as worthy of the standard set forth by the ship's namesake.

"I'm truly honored and humbled to be standing here today, not only because I'm in command of the Navy's newest destroyer, but because I've been given the opportunity to lead some of the finest Sailors I've ever met," said Wagner.

"The men and women manning this ship today are some of the finest service members society has to offer today. They come from all over the United States. Some even come from different countries. But make no mistake, they are all willing and enthusiastic about completing the mission. These are men and women of action, ready to go into action if required, just like John Finn exhibited."

The ship's sponsor, Laura Stavridis, the wife of retired Adm. James Stavridis, gave the order to, "man our ship and bring her to life!"

The crowd then witnessed this timehonored tradition, as members of the crew ran aboard the ship and manned the rails, as the ship's systems came online - radars and weapon systems began to spin, the chaff launcher popped, and alarms sounded - all symbolizing the ship "coming to life."

John Finn is a multi-mission surface combatant capable of conducting anti-air warfare, anti-submarine warfare and anti-surface warfare. As a multimission platform, it is capable of sustained combat operations supporting forward presence, maritime security, sea control and deterrence. *

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SWO Boss Heads Surface Force Maintenance Discussion at FMMS 2017

Photo by MC2 Phillip Ladouceur

Commander, Naval Surface Forces Vice Adm. Tom Rowden delivered remarks and led a discussion on various aspects of the current Surface Force maintenance environment at this year’s American Society of Naval Engineers' Fleet Maintenance and Modernization Symposium (FMMS) at the San Diego Convention Center.

FMMS carries the theme “Build. By Mass CommuniMaintain. Modernize. Shaping cation Specialist the Future Fleet” and is an annual 1st Class Trevor event that brings together the ship Welsh, Naval maintenance and modernization Surface Force, community.

U.S. Pacific Fleet The symposium features guest Public Affairs speakers, panelists and presentations from the Navy, Coast Guard, industry and academia.

It also provides an opportunity for senior military and civil service decision makers to have discussions with ship and craft operators and maintainers, repair and maintenance personnel, designers, builders, planners, engineers, program managers, life cycle engineers, equipment suppliers and other technical experts.

“It’s great to be back in front of this tremendous group

of maintenance professionals,” Rowden said. “This year I want to talk about some of the progress we have made — and I think we’ve made a lot — but there is still much work to do.”

The discussion focused on successes achieved during recent years, including progress made buying down the maintenance backlog (“resetting the Surface Force”), improving current readiness, and implementing an improved LCS maintenance concept. Vice Adm. Rowden also discussed the challenges the Surface Force faces, as well as what needs to be done to sail into the future with a Force that is more consistently and robustly materially fit to fight.

“If we're going to avoid some of the readiness challenges we've had the past few years we must adhere to and execute our ship class maintenance plans,” Rowden said.

“One area I think we've made good progress in is our current readiness. We have reorganized the staff over at Naval Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet and established current readiness codes located on the waterfront to work directly with the ships' maintenance teams to attack current readiness and prepare our ships for deployment.”

Rowden, who along with his staff, is responsible for

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manning, training and equipping the Surface Force, says his primary focus since assuming that mantel of SWO Boss has been maintenance. To better help ensure success in this area and to deliver better maintenance outcomes Rowden has leveraged the skills and knowledge of experienced officers.

“We have selected post-command officers to liaise with the current ships’ commanding officers on emerging readiness issues,” Rowden said. “The feedback I'm getting from the ships' commanding officers is that our responsiveness to their needs has never been greater.

The data shows that our ships, and by extension the carrier strike groups and amphibious readiness groups, are deploying with fewer material issues.”

Vice Adm. Rowden extolled the progress made in recent years buying down the maintenance backlog and resetting the Surface Force. He cited Board of Material Inspection and Survey data that show ships’ material inspection scores holding firm, despite continued heavy demand for surface forces.

“Over the past three years we have done a pretty good job of buying down the maintenance backlog and that has proceeded along three lines of effort: money, capacity and time,” Rowden said.

“Top line spending for the surface force continues to be healthy and is going to continue to grow through 2017

and 2018,” Rowden said. “In terms of capacity, I think the private yards have done an excellent job absorbing the added workload and scaling their workforce to meet the added demand. Lastly, we have worked to carve out additional time from ships operational cycles for dedicated maintenance or at a minimum to preserve the time that is notionally allotted to them.”

Rowden said he is also focused on continuing to improve issues in the littoral combat ship maintenance program. The Surface Force is making significant progress in implementing the recommendations from the Chief of Naval Operations Littoral Combat Ship 60-day Study.

Rowden has appointed a LCS 60Day Implementation Director, Capt.

Tom Workman, who is responsible for continuing the progress on the LCS program. On the maintenance front, Rowden’s focus is on shifting the maintenance workload away

from contractors and back to the ships’ Sailors.

“We are rethinking all aspects of how we operate and maintain the littoral combat ships,” Rowden said.

“We have greatly simplified and streamlined the LCS concept of operations and I am confident we are getting the program headed in the right direction. When it comes to LCS maintenance, the key is to increase Sailor ownership and reduce the reliance upon contractors.

I understand the LCS manning concept does not support shifting the entire maintenance workload to the crew. Still, I am committed to increasing the amount of planned maintenance to be performed by the LCS crew.”

This initiative, despite the small size of LCS crews, is set to be accomplished through fully embracing reliability-centered maintenance concepts, like

conditioned-based maintenance, vice time-based maintenance.

“We need to move away from a purely time-based approach to the planned maintenance system,” Rowden said. “We should instead perform preventative maintenance based upon risk assessment of equipment failure modes. By applying a risk-based strategy underpinned by rigorous engineering analysis, we can assign preventative maintenance to specifically address risks to equipment as conditions indicate.

Industry has already moved along to reliability-centered maintenance, our force has to implement these ideas too, and we have to do it soon.”

After highlighting areas where progress has been made, Rowden turned to addressing the challenges that remain, beginning with the ability of private yards to execute programmed maintenance, conduct drydock periods and extended maintenance availabilities.

“I'm worried that in the coming years we will not have the private yard capacity we need to handle all of our Force maintenance requirements,” Rowden said.

“Private yards have done a good job of absorbing the work that has come their way during the Surface Force

reset, but the prospect of a still greater maintenance load in the coming years, with more littoral combat ships coming online, and a potentially larger force overall, causes me concern. There is simply more work than the current workforce can accomplish. As a result, I have pushed to [increase the number] of yards that are familiar with and capable of performing Navy work.”

Despite the growing need for increased shipyard capacity, Rowden commended these engineers for the work they accomplish together with the ships’ crews and maintenance centers. Rowden made it clear that it will take continued close collaboration between NAVSEA, Naval Surface Forces, and industry to deliver a Surface Force capable of performing its mission.

“I want to thank you for everything you do, everything you do for our team and the collaborative work we have going on,” said Rowden.

We still have a lot of work to do, but we are delivering - day in and day out - and I’m making sure we're doing everything we can to give those men and women the ships that they need and the operational availabilities they need to go do the work that must be done for our country. We have a lot of people out there counting on us and we must deliver.” *

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Story by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Michael Hendricks

MAYPORT, Fla. (NNS) – Naval maritime and amphibious forces from 19 countries gathered in Lima, Peru, for the conclusion of the 58th iteration of the world’s oldest multinational naval exercise, UNITAS, July 16-26.

This year’s exercise was hosted by Peru and commanded by Peruvian Navy Rear Adm. Alberto Alcala. More than 4,000 service members from the United States, Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Australia, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Italy, Panama, Mexico, Spain, and United Kingdom participated in this year’s exercise.

“Bringing all the nations together is important,” said Capt. Angel Cruz, commodore, Destroyer Squadron 40. “We as partners need to be prepared, and coming together for exercises like this, allows us the time and experience we need to prepare. Maintaining the ability to come together as one force is critical in times of natural disasters and other crisis situations.”

While participating in UNITAS LVIII, U.S. forces were under the operational control of Commander, Task Force 138, Rear Adm. Sean Buck. Buck is the commander of U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet (USNAVSO/FOURTHFLT).

“UNITAS is about improving warfighting interoperability between the U.S. Navy and its partner nation navies,” said Buck. “My aim was to enhance the complexity and sophistication of UNITAS, as well as the other exercises in our theater. We get better by actual at-sea operations; challenging ourselves and our partners to operate together and build our repertoire of maritime skills. We can’t become complacent by just exercising ashore. The threats to our stability and security are evolving, so we need to be on top of our game and ready for any scenario. We do this by sharing knowledge and improving our multinational cooperation in exercises like UNITAS.” The U.S. ships that participated in the exercise were USS Somerset (LPD 25), USS Chafee (DDG 90), and USCGC Escanaba (WMEC 907). The U.S. ships were among 30 vessels that took part in UNITAS. Other participating units included Destroyer Squadron 40; Explosive Ordinance Disposal Group 1, BQM-74 Target Drone Detachment from NAVAIR; U.S. Marine Forces South (MARFORSOUTH); Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit 1; Commander Amphibious Squadron 1; and USNAVSO/ FOURTHFLT.

Maritime and Amphibious UNITAS LVIII was comprised of two phases, UNITAS Pacific and UNITAS Amphibious, both occurring concurrently with multinational partners.

UNITAS Pacific was designed to train each navy to conduct combined naval operations through the execution of littoral

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“UNITAS is about improving warfighting interoperability between the U.S. Navy and its partner nation navies,”

warfare, anti-piracy, maritime interception operations, countering transnational organized crime, anti-surface warfare, electronic warfare, communications exercises, and air and amphibious operations to increase the capacity of participating naval and marine forces.

MARFORSOUTH, in conjunction with USNAVSO/FOURTHFLT, the Peruvian navy and marine corps, and other regional partner nations conducted UNITAS Amphibious in the vicinity of Callao, Ancon and Salinas de Huacho, Peru. UNITAS Amphibious was designed to enhance interoperability and improve partner nations’ ability to plan combined amphibious operations, stability operations, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions in the region, and further develop common practices and procedures that result in common doctrine for use in future operations.

“From the first day of UNITAS, to the last day, each task force’s performance was critical,” said Chafee’s commanding officer, Capt. Brian Fremming. “Operating in joint and combined warfare areas reaffirms the importance of communication and building partnerships during complex and robust underway operations with partner nation navies, and that is something no simulator could ever teach or build.”

UNITAS has evolved over many years and now includes training for 21st century threats that are encountered in today’s maritime environment. By training with our Caribbean, Central and South American counterparts, USNAVSO/FOURTHFLT further develops professional understanding and mutual respect with our regional partner nations by sharing best practices and expertise, and they will gain new knowledge about each other’s culture and people throughout the exercise.

Before the ship’s deployed for the exercise, there was a day of sports events and an international cuisine festival held on the Callao Naval Base. The festival allowed many of the participating nations to showcase some of their local food.

U.S. Marines and partner nations also gathered together for a community relations project to support the town of Huarmey, Peru, which had been damaged by flooding. USS Somerset delivered more than 100 pallets of donated items from Project Handclasp to the town’s hospital and schools.

Communication One critical evolution that has occurred is the implementation of the Combined Enterprise Regional Information Exchange System (CENTRIXS) that is currently utilized as the primary means of communication between the U.S. and partner nations during exercises and real world events. The system provides a secure information exchange and is becoming the standard for use throughout the entirety of both the U.S. Northern Command and U.S. Southern Command areas of responsibility.

The CENTRIXS enclave is managed through the Inter-American Naval Telecommunications Network (IANTN).

“It is essential to have a common means of communicating and imperative to overcoming challenges such as spectrum management,

system incompatibilities and language barriers,” said Cmdr. Robert Matthias, IANTN Secretary and USNAVSO/FOURTHFLT communications director.

“Communication is core to command and control (C2) within military operations and emergency response.

Having CENTRIXS-IANTN capabilities in place, and commonplace, is critical to support how American Navies securely plan and execute in the Maritime Operating Environment.”

World’s longest-running annual Beginning in 1960, UNITAS is the world’s longestrunning annual multinational maritime exercise. At its conception, UNITAS was a series of bi-lateral exercises between the U.S. and partner nations.

U.S. forces would deploy to each individual country participating in exercises centered around antisubmarine warfare in the exercises early years.

“There is a great deal of history behind UNITAS,” said Doug Cress, UNITAS LVIII lead planner for USNAVSO/FOURTHFLT. “Many lasting professional relationships have been established throughout the years at all levels. In the future, UNITAS will continue to evolve and provide a unique and relevant opportunity for combined forces to plan and operate together as new capabilities are established for evolving threats.”

The first planning for UNITAS took place at the second Inter-American Naval conference in 1960. Then Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Arleigh A. Burke, led the U.S. delegation.

UNITAS, which means “unity” in Latin, is a demonstration of U.S. commitment to the region and to the value of the strong relationships forged between our partner militaries. UNITAS LIX in 2018 will be hosted by Colombia. *

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Arctic Roadmap's Strategic Objectives

• Ensuring sovereignty of the United States’ Arctic region • Providing ready naval forces to respond to crises & contingencies • Preserving freedom of navigation • Promoting partnerships within the U.S. government & with its international allies and partners.

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A Hero for the Rest of Us

Leadership Literature Review by

Rear Adm. Fred W. Kacher

Executive Officer to the Suprme Allied Commander Europe/Commander United States European Command

A

s a young naval officer, it took just one great commanding officer on my first ship to show me how special command at sea could be, but it took me more than a decade to decide I might have what it took to do so myself. I suspect I was not alone, because on a certain level, command, like marriage or becoming a parent for the first time, is something that you can’t fully understand until you are in the role. To paraphrase a former boss who commanded at multiple levels, “After a day at sea in command, you’ll know more about the job than what you thought you knew in the sixteen years you’ve been dreaming about it.”

Fortunately, that does not mean that you can’t make yourself better prepared for a job that is more than worth the wait. For me, the combination of some superb leaders at sea, capable instruction at Surface Warfare Officer School (SWOS), and the benefit of five sea tours as part of ship’s company all helped get me ready for command – an opportunity I dearly hoped to have and do well.

Another powerful tool that I used, almost unknowingly at first, that helped me prepare for the job was reading – particularly reading about great leaders at sea. From the depiction of Adm. Raymond Spruance in The Quiet Warrior to fictional heroes like Jack Aubrey in Master and Commander, these books helped convey to someone who had never been in command what the great captains possessed.

Despite these powerful literary examples, it is the story of a small corvette led by an unassuming Royal Naval officer during the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II that had the greatest impact on me as a naval leader. That book, The Cruel Sea, remains a favorite of mine and is still regarded by many as one of the great novels of the sea.

While the book’s author, Nicholas Monsarrat, who served on corvettes during World War II himself, vividly channels the spirit of a number of characters who fight on HMS Compass Rose, it is his portrayal of the ship’s

commanding officer, Lt. Cmdr. George Ericson, that resonated most with me. Ericson may not be as cerebral as Spruance or as charismatic as Jack Aubrey, but as the reader accompanies him on his first command, his first wartime patrol and ultimately his first command of a multi-ship convoy through more than five years at war, Ericson’s qualities slowly but surely become undeniable.

Of course, those qualities aren’t just apparent to the reader, they are apparent to his crew. In his effort to make his ship as combat ready as possible, Ericson does not compromise or pander, but as he commands in his understated but resolute way, the crew realizes that they are in the presence of someone special.

“They grew almost to love him toward the end of the voyage: he was strong, calm, uncomplaining, and wonderfully dependable. This was the sort of captain to have: Compass Rose could have done with nothing less, and Compass Rose butting her patient way homeward under the blows of the cruel sea, was lucky to have him.”

Ericson is indeed a hero for the rest of us. A veteran of two decades at sea, he is a leader who demonstrates that patience, hard work, and dedication to our craft and our ship, much more likely than brilliance or style, carry the day in an environment where terrible things can still happen to good people at sea. Monsarrat writes all that needs to be written with just a few simple words, “The Captain carried them all.”

Given the book’s subject and the time of its publication (1951), there are some who may find aspects of The Cruel Sea old-fashioned, but setting aside a book like this because it does not align perfectly with our modern sensibilities would be a shame. That which remains timeless and authentic within this book, what it takes to lead, sacrifice and win at sea in the face of a cold and ruthless enemy, makes The Cruel Sea deeply worth reading – not just for future commanding officers, but old ones as well. *

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Voices From the Fleet Photo by U.S. Navy

From Training to Real Life Success: Driving an LCS

Guest Blog By: Lieutenant Natalie Schimelpfenig, USS Fort Worth (LCS 3)

with driving. Using two handles called “combinators” that Officer of the Deck (OOD) is the most coveted underway watchstation for a young ensign on board a U.S Navy control the ship’s four water jets, the OOD can use the jets to direct the ship in twists that can shift the ship port or warship. This position gives junior officers a great amount of starboard while keeping the ship on its authority because while standing the original heading. watch they act as a direct representative After more than 100 hours After more than 100 hours of simulator of the ship’s captain and are responsible for the navigation and safety of the time spent mastering high speed of simulator time spent operations and precision ship handling, vessel. Although OODs are assisted by mastering high speed I was given the opportunity to drive other navigation watchstanders on the operations and precision a real LCS for the first time in April bridge team, it’s an intense role to fill. ship handling, I was given while we were underway for a weekend I originally attended OOD training en route to my first ship, USS Lake Erie of refresher training. Our commanding the opportunity to drive a officer, Cmdr. Spencer Austin, decided (CG 70). It consisted of several hours real LCS to perform an anchorage just off the coast in a virtual reality headset simulator of San Diego. Once the order was given, under the close watch of experienced seeing the bridge and anchoring teams spring into action officers. While driving in this virtual environment, I practiced giving steering commands, driving through and conduct a safe evolution with such ease was incredible.

Performing a precision anchorage involves driving to a various weather and traffic conditions, and performing chosen anchoring location and stopping the ship within mooring evolutions. I felt the training gave me more than 25 yards of that location. With unexpected traffic and the enough preparation to drive my newly assigned ship. After fading light of the day, my team expertly supported my standing bridge watches during workups and a 7th Fleet driving and I gave the command to “let go the anchor” deployment on board Lake Erie, I was even more confident within seven yards of our intended spot. in my ship driving ability and ready to finally take the deck.

Less than 24 hours later I checked off another ship driving Later, when I received orders to Littoral Combat Ship first. In the simulators, every junior officer practices pier (LCS) Crew 101, I was surprised to see that I would be work without tugboat assistance. However, most OODs attending three more months of OOD training before joining the command. As it turns out, the high speed OOD will never get to put those skills to the test in the fleet. That wasn’t the case for me. My captain has such confidence School in Newport, Rhode Island was the best school I’ve in his Sailors’ abilities that he allows all of his OODs to attended in my four years of naval service. attempt to moor without help from the tugboats. So, the The two major differences for an OOD on an LCS, vice next morning after our successful anchoring, my JOOD standing the watch on a conventional ship, are the hands on approach to ship driving and the increased amount of and I pulled into port. With my captain’s trust, and many hours of intensely realistic simulator training, I successfully responsibility. While conventional ships have watch teams moored without tugs for our weapons offload. It was an of about ten Sailors to handle all bridge responsibilities, the amazing moment in my career.

LCS relies on the OOD and JOOD. In addition to assisting From my first experiences on USS Lake Erie, to my most the OOD with radar operation and voice communications, the JOOD takes on the responsibilities of the traditional recent on USS Fort Worth, I’m grateful for the opportunities I’ve been afforded and earned in the Navy. It’s rewarding to Quartermaster of the Watch, who performs navigation know that hard work will continue to pay off! * duties and maintains the deck log, and the Boatswains Mate of the Watch, who makes all shipboard loudspeaker announcements via the 1MC. The OOD is primarily tasked

SURFACE WARFARE FALL 2017

Command Changes Capt. David Guluzian................................................................................ USS KEARSARGE

June 2017

Lt. Cmdr. M.T. Mcaraw ..................................................................... USS THUNDERBOLT Capt. Alexis T. Walker.................................................................................................... CDS7

Capt. Brett E. Crozier.............................................................................. USS BLUE RIDGE

Lt. Cmdr. Kurt Albaugh.......................................................................... USS DEVASTATOR

Capt. Jason A. Burns..............................................................................................USS ESSEX

Cmdr. Michael D. Moreno.................................................................................. TACRON-12 Cmdr. Michael Merrill................................................................................................. BMU-1

July 2017

Cmdr. Keneth J. Landry................................................LCS CREW TWO ZERO NINE 209

Capt. Dennis Jacko....................................................................................USS ANCHORAGE

Lt. Cmdr. Joshua D. Kristenson.................................USS CHAMPION/Crew DOMINANT Cmdr. Kevin P. Meehan........................................................USS GABRIELLE GIFFORDS

Cmdr. Emily Cathey......................................................................... USS INDEPENDENCE

Cmdr. Jennifer M. Pontius..................................................................................USS MILIUS Cmdr. Allen L Maxwell Jr................................................................................. USS PREBLE

Cmdr. John M. Halttunen.........................................................................USS STOCKDALE

Capt.M.S.Johnston........................................................................................... LCSRON TWO RDML S. Paparo............................................................................. COMCARSTKGRU TEN

LT David E. Zieroth....................................................................................... USS TORNADO RADM J.A. Wilison........................................................................... COMNAVSURFLANT

CDR Bowman-Trayford......................................................................................USS MAHAN Cmdr. Steven M. Foley................................................... AFLOATRAGRU SAN DIEGO CA

August 2017

RDML Michael W. Wettlaufer..............................................COMCARSTRKGRU THREE

Cmdr. Aaron M. Anderson...........................................LCS CREW ONE ZERO FOUR 104 Cmdr. Jeffrey Bessler......................................................................................................... RSO Cmdr. Jacob Braun.............................................................................................USS CHAFEE

Lt. Cmdr. William A. Russell ...............................................................................USS CHIEF Cmdr. Jeffrey S. Tamulevich............................................................................. USS HOPPER Cmdr. Kevin T. Louis.................................................................. USS MICHAEL MURPHY

Capt. Robert Johns.............................................................................................. USS SHILOH CDR Russel L. Moore......................................................................... USS THE SULLIVANS

CDR Patrick R. Murphy...........................................................................USS BAINBRIDGE CDR Aaron Anderson............................................................................... USS MILWAUKEE LCDR Grant Greenwell....................................................................................USS ZEPHYR

Capt. Kevin M. Kennedy.................................................................... CDS TWENTY EIGHT

CDR Paul O'Brian......................................................................................... USS RAMPAGE RDML Eugene H. Black............................................................COMCARSRKGRU EIGHT

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