Source: United States Navy
The METs are comprised of skilled Sailors that provide critical preventative maintenance to LCS class ships homeported in San Diego and deployed overseas. These Sailors work alongside LCS crews to complete the portion of the ships’ maintenance that was originally intended to be contracted out in support of LCS minimal manning initiatives. As the relatively young METs continue to grow in size and capability, they will eventually take over the contractor’s work scope. This is a critical shift toward self-sufficiency and greater combat readiness.
As SWRMC also oversees all LCS contracts for intermediate and depot-level corrective maintenance, shifting the METs to SWRMC is an important alignment of responsibility for all non-organic maintenance (whether contracted or performed by Sailors) under one command. In preparation for the shift, SWRMC employees have spent the last year planning, programming and organizing SWRMC’s Expeditionary Maintenance Department, which will provide all the necessary support for the MET Sailors.
The MET Sailors will be joining an already substantial military component within SWRMC.
“SWRMC has traditionally been an excellent workplace for fleet returnees who are interested in retaining and growing their maintenance skills. The intermediate-level corrective maintenance they perform is in direct support of the fleet, where they will ultimately return and be better for the experience. We have extensive experience training and developing Sailors alongside career civilians, many of whom served in the Navy at one point or another”, said CDR Tony Macaluso, SWRMC Expeditionary Maintenance Department Head. “We are rapidly onboarding the more than 150 Sailors to our command and making the necessary civilian hires that will support this team. Our goal in the short-term is to continue the existing level of support to the fleet under the SWRMC banner, in the mid-term to expand the scope of preventative maintenance currently being performed, and long-term to constitute an expeditionary intermediate-level maintenance capability that deploys shops overseas for more involved corrective repairs.”
“Sailors are the bedrock of the LCS maintenance program. Both at home and while deployed, Sailors that are technical experts with first-hand knowledge of our platforms work directly with our on-hull crews,” said CAPT Marc Crawford, commodore of Littoral Combat Ship Squadron One. “Our squadron’s collaboration with SWRMC enables stream-lined preventative maintenance to identify potential issues, ultimately making our ships more reliable and lethal for fleet tasking.”
This partnership between SWRMC and LCSRON1 is nothing new. SWRMC has always supported LCSRON1 in their mission to “man, train and equip” LCS class ships. SWRMC provides superior ship maintenance, modernization, technical support, and training for the Pacific Fleet. Acquiring the MET provides SWRMC additional capability to help maintain the fleet.