Month: August 2023

Source: United States Navy

The annual exercise is designed to strengthen the combined defense posture and Alliance response capabilities based on scenarios that reflect diverse threats within the security environment. The rigorous training will ensure the Alliance is ready to defend the Republic of Korea and promote security and stability in Northeast Asia.

The live, virtual, and constructive exercise will include ROK government personnel, as well as U.S. and ROK military forces from all services.

All United Nations Command Member States are scheduled to participate in different capacities, with 10 members providing additional exercise augmentees: Australia, Canada, France, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, New Zealand, Philippines, Thailand, and the U.S. Additionally, the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (Sweden and Switzerland) will observe and monitor the exercise, fulfilling duties prescribed by the Armistice Agreement.

In addition to UFS 23 training, ROK and U.S. units will conduct a number of complementary large-scale, combined training events to strengthen interoperability. The training will increase combat readiness, as well as strengthen the security and stability on the Korean peninsula and across Northeast Asia.

Training exercises like UFS 23 are carried out in the spirit of the Oct. 1, 1953, ROK-U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty and in support of the Armistice. These exercises also highlight the longstanding military partnership, commitment and enduring friendship between ROK and U.S.; help to solidify the role of the Alliance as the linchpin of peace and security in the region; and reaffirm the U.S. ironclad commitment to the defense of the ROK.

Prior to UFS 23, a Crisis Management Exercise (CMX) will take place from Aug. 15 to 18 to train the respective headquarters elements of ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff, Combined Forces Command, U.S. Forces Korea, and United Nations Command.

Source: United States Navy

Vice Adm. Roy Kitchener, commander, Naval Surface Forces served as the ceremony’s guest speaker and wished the current crew fair winds and following seas as they bid farewell to their ship.

“The Sailors of USS Mobile Bay demonstrated time and time again the resolve and readiness the Surface Force provides around the clock in support of our nation’s interests,” said Kitchener. “Everywhere this ship and crew deployed, Mobile Bay Sailors served their nation well, and lived up to the valor enshrined in the Battle of Mobile Bay.”

Commanded by Capt. Brandon J. Burkett, Mobile Bay maintained a crew of 30 officers and 300 enlisted members.

“It’s been an honor to be Mobile Bay’s last commanding officer,” said Burkett. “It has been a distinct privilege to work alongside some of the finest Sailors our Navy and our nation have to offer. Their persistence through adversity is commendable and truly represents the spirit of Mobile Bay’s motto, ‘Full speed ahead.’ They truly embody what it means to be a ‘MOBster.’ It is now my solemn responsibility as the ships final captain to order hauling down the colors and disembarking the crew. Though to many of us ‘MOBsters’ past and present, the feeling is deeper than that. Those who’ve gone to sea know that a ship is more than a machine that floats. When you are away from home for months on end your ship becomes your home and your protection. We take care of her and she takes care of us. Simply put, she becomes family. It has been an honor to serve with my crew on this exemplary warship.”

Mobile Bay was built by Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi and commissioned Feb. 21, 1987, Alabama State Docks in Mobile, Alabama.

The ship’s operational history includes the 1989 evacuation of U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon; launching 22 Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAMs) in support of Operation Desert Storm and evacuation of thousands of people displaced by the volcanic eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the vicinity of Subic Bay, Republic of the Philippines during Operation Fiery Vigil in 1991; U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (CGLED) seizure of 10.5 metric tons of cocaine approximately 800 miles southwest of Acapulco, Mexico, and launching Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAMs) in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.

The ship’s sponsor, Kathryn Jane Maury helped organize the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia in the 1960s after her Navy pilot husband was shot down and captured in 1965. She was married to U.S. Sen. Jeremiah Denton, a Vietnam War veteran who was awarded the Navy Cross for his heroism while a prisoner of war. USS Jeremiah Denton (DDG 129), a Flight III Arleigh-Burke class destroyer is named for him. Mrs. Denton passed away on Nov. 22, 2007, at the age of 81.

The ship was the first named after and in honor of the Battle of Mobile Bay in August 1864. During the famous American Civil War naval battle between Union forces under the command of Adm. David Farragut and Confederate forces under Adm. Franklin Buchanan.

The ship’s motto, “Full speed ahead,” is based on Adm. Farragut’s famous command issued during the battle and typifies the Admiral’s key to success in war, straight thinking and determined action. Mobile Bay proudly carried on the tradition of patriotism and courage displayed by the ships and Sailors in the historic battle which concluded when Farragut’s Union ships converged upon the Confederate ironclad CSS Tennessee firing broadsides and ramming it at full speed with their prows. After two hours, Tennessee was dead in the water, it’s steering gone and stack shot away, filling the gun deck with suffocating heat and flames. Only then did the wounded Buchanan give the order to surrender. Tennessee’s colors came down, concluding one of the most important battles in the Civil War.

Mobile Bay will be inactivated and towed to the Navy’s Inactive Ship’s facility in Bremerton, Washington where they will be in a Logistic Support Asset (LSA) status.

For more news from Naval Surface Forces, visit www.navy.mil/local/cnsp/, www.dvidshub.net/unit/COMNAVSURFPAC, and www.public.navy.mil/surfor/.

Source: United States Navy

In the afternoon, the SAR team received a request for assistance for a man needing medical attention while trekking around Castle Lake near Mount St. Helens at an approximate altitude of 2’800 ft.
During the 125 nautical mile transit, the Helicopter Inland Rescue Aircrewman maintained communications with the on-ground rescue team for updated information and obtained coordinates for the location of a waiting ambulance.

SAR reached the ailing man’s location around 4:40 p.m. and hoisted him aboard the aircraft by 5 p.m. for the transit to the waiting ambulance. After completing the rescue mission, SAR made it back to base just before 7:30 that evening.

Naval Air Station Whidbey Island SAR has conducted 24 missions this calendar year, which includes 1 MEDEVAC, 4 searches and 19 rescues.

The Navy SAR unit operates three MH-60S helicopters from NAS Whidbey Island as search and rescue/medical evacuation (SAR/MEDEVAC) platforms for the EA-18G aircraft as well as other squadrons and personnel assigned to the installation. Pursuant to the National SAR Plan of the United States, the unit may also be used for civil SAR/MEDEVAC needs to the fullest extent practicable on a non-interference basis with primary military duties according to applicable national directives, plans, guidelines and agreements; specifically, the unit may launch in response to tasking by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (based on a Washington State Memorandum of Understanding) for inland missions, and/or tasking by the United States Coast Guard for all other aeronautical and maritime regions, when other assets are unavailable.