Category: Defence

Source: United States Navy

Navy Divers, Sailors, and partners have made significant progress on the salvage efforts including recovering over 16,000 lbs. of wreckage across the 13,000 square-foot debris field. Previous estimates suggesting the recovery operation may take approximately two weeks from the Feb. 16 start date remain accurate and on plan.

“Our top priority is a careful and thorough recovery that safeguards the well-being of all involved – residents, servicemembers, and our valued partners,” said Vice Adm. John Wade, commander, U.S. 3rd Fleet. “I could not be prouder of the tireless efforts of our Navy Divers and the greater team supporting the salvage. The Navy calls San Diego home, and we appreciate the community’s patience as we work diligently to recover the wreckage, mitigate environmental effects, and restore normal operations in the channel as swiftly and safely as possible.”

Civilian vessels will not be permitted to transit in and out of the Shelter Island basin through the southwestern portion of the channel until the conclusion of salvage operations. Please reference the below chart, which provides a visual display of the impacted area.

The Coast Guard has established a temporary safety zone for navigable waters in the vicinity of Naval Base Point Loma and Shelter Island in San Diego Bay. The safety zone is needed to protect personnel, vessels, and the marine environment from potential hazards associated with the crash. Entry of vessels or persons into this zone is prohibited unless specifically authorized by the Captain of the Port, Sector San Diego.

The public may notice heavy equipment near the Shelter Island harbor entrance as recovery operations continue. Individuals are asked to stay clear of floating cranes, barges, and other recovery vessels in the area and avoid interfering with ongoing recovery efforts.

During the recovery effort, some debris may float and wash ashore in areas away from the crash site. The public is strongly advised not to approach, touch, or collect any debris that may wash ashore. Naval Base Coronado has established a reporting option for debris sightings. The public should report debris to: nbc_debris@us.navy.mil.

Additional Navy commands assisting in the recovery effort include Navy Region Southwest, Naval Base Coronado, Naval Base Point Loma, Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Southwest, Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Supervisor of Salvage and Diving, and Electronic Attack Wing Pacific. These teams are working together to ensure a safe and efficient recovery operation.

 Throughout the recovery, Commander, Naval Air Forces will continue to lead the investigation into the cause of the crash. That investigation is ongoing.

Additional updates will be provided as available.

Photo galleries from the recovery efforts can be found at the following links:

1. www.dvidshub.net/image/8881417/us-3rd-fleet-commander-visits-salvage-site
2. www.dvidshub.net/image/8879473/ea-18g-growler-salvage-operations
3. www.dvidshub.net/image/8879188/ea-18g-growler-salvage-operations
4. www.dvidshub.net/image/8873610/ea-18g-growler-salvage-operations
5. www.dvidshub.net/image/8873594/ea-18g-growler-salvage-operations

Additional imagery will be released on the Commander, U.S. 3rd Fleet DVIDS page when available: https://www.dvidshub.net/unit/COM-US3rdFleet

The U.S. Navy fact file on the EA-18G Growler can be found at the following link:

https://www.navy.mil/Resources/Fact-Files/Display-FactFiles/Article/2166036/ea-18g-growler-airborne-electronic-attack-aircraft/

Source: United States Navy

During the exercise, which took place from Feb. 10-21, over 1000 participants from 20 partner nations supported Exercise Cutlass Express 2025 as part of a global network of partners to enhance cooperation and expertise in maritime security operations in the Western Indian Ocean.

In Tanzania, 2 national maritime operation centers (MOCs) participated in the exercise to collaborate on real-time scenarios linked to the visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) training hosted in Tanga, Tanzania. Exercise Cutlass Express 2025 also contained linkages with the U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa-led exercise Justified Accord 2025, also taking place in Tanzania, to improve coordination between land- and sea-based operations.

“We value the TPDF’s role as a regional leader in deploying peacekeeping forces, countering violent extremist organizations, and promoting maritime security,” said Andrew Lentz Chargé d’Affaires ad interim of the U.S. Embassy in Tanzania. “Through exercises like Cutlass Express, we are building the readiness of our militaries and deepening the bilateral and multilateral relationships required to confront today’s most complex security challenges.”

Cutlass Express focuses on enabling East African partners to expand their capacity and capability to support maritime security operations and combat threats such as piracy, trafficking and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The coordination of 10 national MOCs across 8 partner nations sought to improve regional coordination, with this year being the first to feature a U.S. P-8A Poseidon aircraft to establish communication links during a Cutlass Express. VBSS training in both Tanzania and Mauritius, as well as a week-long rule of law course hosted in Seychelles, allowed partners to share and refine their tactics for interdiction operations while ensuring a legal finish to hold malign actors accountable for illicit at-sea activity.

“Ensuring the free flow of commerce within the region, especially over critical sea lines of communication and the vast expanse of this maritime environment, is vital to the economic stability and security of the region,” said Rear Adm. David E. Ludwa, reserve director of logistics, ordnance and engineering for Navy Reserve U.S. 6th Fleet. “We must work together, deepen our partnerships, and continue to improve the quality of exercises like Cutlass Express to enhance our ability to communicate and synchronize maritime operations to collectively counter the manifold threats we face.”

Participants in this year’s iteration of Cutlass Express spanned 5 continents and included Australia, Belgium, Comoros, Djibouti, France, Georgia, India, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Senegal, Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania, Tunisia, and the United Kingdom.

Cutlass Express is one of three regional maritime exercises led by U.S. 6th Fleet as part of a comprehensive strategy to provide collaborative opportunities to African forces and international partners to address maritime security concerns.

Commander, U.S. 6th Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with allied and interagency partners to advance U.S. national interests, security and stability in Europe and Africa.

Source: United States Navy

Snowden was relieved by Rear Adm. Sean Bailey, commander of Carrier Strike Group 8, after serving as the aircraft carrier’s commanding officer since December 2023. Snowden will be temporarily assigned to Naval Air Forces Atlantic.

The relief occurred after Truman was involved in a collision with the merchant vessel Besiktas-M on Feb. 12, while operating in the Mediterranean Sea in the vicinity of Port Said, Egypt.

The U.S. Navy holds commanding officers to the highest standard and takes action to hold them accountable when those standards are not met. Naval leaders are entrusted with significant responsibilities to their Sailors and their ships.

Capt. Christopher Hill, commanding officer of USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), will temporarily serve as Harry S. Truman’s interim commanding officer.

Dwight D. Eisenhower is currently undergoing scheduled maintenance at Norfolk Naval Shipyard after completing a nine-month deployment to U.S. Central Command and U.S. European Command in July 2024.

There is no impact to Harry S. Truman’s mission or schedule due to the relief. The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier is currently deployed to the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations.

For questions related to this release, contact U.S. Sixth Fleet / Task Force SIX Public Affairs at cne_cna_c6fpao@us.navy.mil

Source: United States Navy

IMX 2025 brought together 5,000 personnel from over 30 nations and international organizations committed to preserving the rules-based international order and strengthening regional maritime security cooperation.

The 12-day exercise took participants through several exercise serials across multiple locations at sea in the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, as well as ashore and in the air. Some of the serials included diving, harbor security, mine countermeasures, unmanned systems and artificial intelligence integration, visit, board, search and seizure procedures, and global health management events.

“It’s inspiring to see so many nations working together. The incredible level of international representation is pivotal to our success of safeguarding regional waterways and enabling the free flow of commerce,” said U.S. Navy Vice Adm. George Wikoff, Commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and U.S. 5th Fleet, in his remarks at the closing ceremony. “IMX 2025 was truly about partnering to strengthen and expand our capabilities.”

“[The] exercise brought forward many viewpoints [about how] to handle a single situation in various different ways. I am confident that the takeaways of this exercise will serve all the participants in planning and executing various exercises in their respective countries,” said Pakistan Navy Commodore Rashid Mahmood Sheikh, who led the CPX exercise for IMX 2025, in his remarks.

IMX 2025 ran in conjunction with a U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa exercise, Cutlass Express 25, with each exercise’s respective maritime operations centers exercising their information sharing capabilities to improve theater-to-theater coordination, reduce regional seams, and strengthen interoperability.

The ninth iteration of the series, IMX began in 2012 as the International Mine Countermeasures Exercise, before changing its name to reflect a more expansive mission set.

The U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations encompasses nearly 2.5 million square miles of water area and includes the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Red Sea, parts of the Indian Ocean and three critical choke points at the Strait of Hormuz, Suez Canal and Bab al-Mandeb.

For imagery, photos and information on IMX, visit the feature page at: https://www.cusnc.navy.mil/IMX/.

Source: United States Navy

NEWPORT, R.I. – Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Lisa Franchetti traveled to New England to meet with area Sailors, civilians, and leadership, tour General Dynamics Bath Iron Works (BIW) and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNSY), and meet with students and faculty at Navy school houses and the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., Feb. 18-19.

This visit underscores the Navy’s commitment to putting more ready players on the field and prioritizing training with a focus on warfighting, wargaming, and readiness.

At BIW, in Bath, Maine, Franchetti met with two dozen shipbuilders who are working on the new radar and combat suite for Pre-Commissioning Unit (PCU) Louis H. Wilson Jr. (DDG 126), BIW’s first Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. She commended them for their hard work and recognized their vital contributions to the Navy’s shipbuilding efforts.

“I’m focused on warfighting and the warfighters that do that warfighting, and they can’t do that without platforms like this,” said Franchetti to Bath Iron Works shipyard workers aboard DDG-126. “I believe in service both in uniform and out. Your service here, building this amazing warship, is also service to your nation. You’re making sure we have the most ready, capable, and lethal Navy that our Nation needs to be able to protect our national security interests all over the world. That all starts right here.”

Franchetti also met with Sailors from the PCUs Harvey C. Barnum Jr (DDG 124) and Patrick Gallagher (DDG 127), the final DDG Flight IIA being built for the Navy.

“It’s exciting to be the plank owners of ships that are going to serve our Nation for 30 years,” said Franchetti. “At the commissioning ceremony for the first Arleigh Burke destroyer, Adm. Arleigh Burke told the crew, ‘this ship was built to fight.  You better know how,’ and I know that’s what this crew thinks about when you go to work every day.”

Franchetti added, “we’ve had 26 warships operating in the Red Sea over the last 15 months, at a level of combat intensity we haven’t seen since World War II. Twelve of those ships were built right here at BIW and have been performing magnificently. That performance is because of our investments in lethal systems, investments in our foundation – shipyards like this one – and investments in Sailors who live and breathe the warrior ethos every day.”

Continuing the visit, CNO took a Quality of Service tour at PNSY where she visited various facilities, including the Bachelor Enlisted Quarters, the Navy Exchange, and the Micromart. During the tour, she engaged in discussions about initiatives focused on improving the quality of life for Sailors. These efforts are part of the ongoing commitment to deliver the high level of service that Sailors deserve and are a key Project 33 target outlined in the CNO’s Navigation Plan for America’s Warfighting Navy.

CNO also received updates on ongoing Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program modernization efforts, ship maintenance, and refit timelines at PNSY. She emphasized the need to build readiness and capability now as the Navy partners to scale industrial capacity and expand budgets for future growth—an effort that aligns with another key target in the CNO’s Navigation Plan, to strengthen and modernize the Navy’s industrial base to get platforms in and out of maintenance on time. While at PNSY, she presented the FY24 Battle “E” award to the crew of the Virginia-class fast attack submarine USS North Dakota (SSN 784).

“One of the big tenants of America’s Warfighting Navy is getting more players on the field. That’s platforms with the right capabilities, the right modernization, the right lethality, and people with the right skillset, toolset, and mindset, and you embody that every single day,” Franchetti told the crew. “I’m confident that you’re going to get this player back out on the field as fast as possible because of your very clear commitment to getting after every challenge that comes your way. Your partnership with the shipyard team is second to none, and together, you got left of any barrier that came up. Our submarines are the Apex Predators of the Fleet, and I know the ‘Reapers of the Deep’ are excited to get back out there.”

Following the visit, the CNO went to Newport, R.I., to meet with leadership at the Surface Warfare Schools Command (SWSC) and to speak at the department head graduation. While there she also relayed her charge of command and spoke about standards to the prospective commanding officers.

“You’re going back to the Fleet at a critical time for our Navy and our nation. As you have seen this past year, our Navy-Marine Corps team, and really our surface warfare community, has been in high demand in every region around the globe,” Franchetti said. “We are operating in contested waterways and airspaces to underwrite the global security environment, and to keep the sea lanes of communication open for all to use. There’s no other Navy that operates at this scale, no other Navy can train, deploy and sustain such a lethal, globally deployed, combat credible force at the pace, the scale, and the tempo that we do.”

The CNO then met with leadership from the U.S. Naval War College and received briefs from the college’s Halsey Group advanced research programs, which conduct data collection, research, analysis and wargaming to examine challenges at the operational level of war in the Middle East and East Asia.

To wrap up the visit, CNO met with leadership and students from both the Naval Supply Corps School and the Naval Justice School to thank them for their work delivering warfighting advantage every day.