Category: Defense

Source: United States Navy

Rear Adm. Leonard “Butch” Dollaga was relieved by Rear Adm. Rick Seif as Commander, Submarine Group 7 (CSG 7), which also serves as Commander, Task Force 74 (CTF 74), and Commander, Task Force 54 (CTF 54).

Vice Adm. Karl Thomas, commander, U.S. 7th Fleet, was the guest speaker at the ceremony and commended both Dollaga as well as the CTF 74 staff on their work.

“I have been immensely impressed with the way you and your team have dealt with operations in theater especially during our current challenging times,” said Thomas. “As CTF 74 Commander, you and your team’s leadership and flawless execution of numerous Theater Undersea Warfare and submarine operations significantly contributed, both in the near and long term, to the Navy’s mission accomplishment throughout the largest operational area of responsibility in the submarine force.”

During the ceremony Thomas presented Dollaga the Legion of Merit for his outstanding performance since taking over CSG 7 in August 2020.

Vice Adm. Tawara Tateki, commander, Fleet Submarine Force, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), also presented Dollaga with a letter of commendation during the ceremony, which acknowledged the work Dollaga oversaw at CSG 7 to promote interoperability of submarine operations between Japan and the United States.

Dollaga, a native of Vallejo, California, thanked the CSG 7 staff for their support during his tour.

“These last few years at Submarine Group 7 have been an absolute honor,” said Dollaga. “I am certainly going to miss this job, the responsibility, and most of all, all the people here in Japan.”

Dollaga will report to the Pentagon next, for his next assignment as chief of legislative affairs.

Seif, a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, most recently served as Commander, Undersea Warfighting Development Center in Groton, Connecticut. He becomes the 48th commander of Submarine Group 7.

“Submarine Group 7 has turned in eye-watering success under Rear Adm. Dollaga’s leadership,” said Seif. “I am honored to join this unmatched team of undersea warfighting professionals. The combat readiness of our deployed undersea forces is job number one, and I’m excited to get to work!”

CSG 7 directs forward-deployed, combat capable forces across the full spectrum of undersea warfare throughout the Western Pacific, Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea; two forward-deployed submarine tenders and five attack submarines homeported in Guam; five surveillance towed array sensor system vessels and three oceanographic survey vessels when tasked for theater anti-submarine warfare operations.

For more news from Commander, Submarine Group 7, visit www.csp.navy.mil/csg7/

Source: United States Navy

During the port visit, they coordinated deliveries of fuel, cargo, provisions, mail and critical parts for the two Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers.

The ships’ presence in the Baltic Sea is a demonstration of the U.S. Navy’s continued commitment to the collective defense of the European region as it reinforces the strong and historic bond between the U.S. and NATO Allies.

“Our ability to support port visits at strategically significant High North locations, such as Copenhagen, is a concrete example of NAVSUP’s expanding capabilities delivering operational readiness to the Fleet where and when our Warfighters need it,” said Capt. Douglas S. MacKenzie, NAVSUP FLCSI commanding officer. “The successful port visit also demonstrates how NAVSUP and our mission partners are enhancing logistics interoperability and engagement with our Allied navies. In this case, the Danish Navy.”

While in port in Copenhagen, the ships’ crew had the opportunity to partake in the rich culture of Denmark and its citizens through tours and visits to historic sights.

Prior to pulling into port, Donald Cook and The Sullivans participated in NATO exercise Dynamic Guard Feb. 22-25 with Royal Danish Navy Iver Huitfeldt-class frigate HDMS Peter Willemoes (F362). Dynamic Guard, hosted by Norway, is a biannual, multinational NATO electronic warfare exercise series designed to provide tactical training for the NATO Response Force and NATO national units. For the first time in three years, two U.S. vessels attended the Dynamic Guard exercise, in an effort to enhance the ongoing cooperation, strength and interoperability between the NATO nations and its allies.

“The continuing cooperation between NATO partners is essential to supporting peace in the region,” said Cmdr. Matthew Curnen, Donald Cook commanding officer. “I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to visit Copenhagen in order to engage in meaningful talks with Danish officials.”

FLCSI is one of NAVSUP’s eight globally-positioned commands that provides for the full range of solutions for logistics, business and support services to the U.S. Naval, Joint, NATO and Allied Forces across 14 enduring and forward operating sites; forward contingency and cooperative security locations in 13 countries in Europe and Africa.

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

Source: United States Navy

Gilday met separately with local government and tribal leaders from the Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribe, Walker River Paiute Tribe, and Yomba Shoshone Tribe and discussed modernization and expansion efforts for the Fallon Range Training Complex (FRTC).

Gilday expressed the Navy’s commitment toward working together with Department of the Interior (DOI), State of Nevada, Counties, and Nevada Tribes. 

“We are committed to listening and working with all stakeholders — this is a critical modernization for our Navy and our nation,” said Gilday. “The Navy continues to work closely withour tribal partners in Northern Nevada to address concerns associated with the FRTC modernization.”

 

Gilday highlighted the importance of tactical aviation readiness and improved ground forces training. 

“During this time of strategic competition, we need to give aviators and SEALs realistic training to ensure we are ready to fight and win when called upon,” said Gilday. “We can accomplish this while honoring culture and traditions, while also protecting the environment and the health and safety of the community.”

 

Prior to the meetings with tribal and local government leaders, CNO and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON) Russell Smith visited NAS Fallon together, where they met with Sailors, visited the base and observed training. 

There they saw first-hand how NAS Fallon increases Fleet and Sailor readiness.

They toured Naval Aviation Warfighting Development Center (NAWDC) where Gilday visited with Sailors and received updates about F/A-18C/D Hornets, F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, E/A-18G Growlers, F-16 Fighting Falcons and MH-60S Seahawk helicopter squadrons.

NAWDC provides service to aircrews, squadrons and air wings throughout the Navy through flight training, academic instructional classes, and direct operational and intelligence support. The command consists of more than 120 officers, 140 enlisted and 50 contract personnel. 

The trip to Fallon, Nevada also provided CNO an opportunity to discuss his call to action for every Navy leader to “Get Real and Get Better” by applying Navy-proven leadership and problem-solving best practices that empower our people to achieve exceptional performance.

“The essential element is fostering a warfighting ecosystem — a culture — that assesses, corrects, and innovates better than the opposition,” said Gilday. “We have no room for complacency. Your command must be ready, from basic fundamentals to the most challenging high-end warfighting maneuvers. Provide our adversaries no vulnerability to exploit.”

The aviation and surface communities are embracing this as they conduct integrated training opportunities and practice high-end warfighting tactics. 

NAS Fallon hosts surface Warfare Tactics Instructors (WTI) who have a significant role in fleet integration between Carrier Air Wings and Carrier Strike Groups. Naval Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center, co-owns the Integrated Air Defense Course (IADC), which is presented in conjunction with NAWDC.

NAS Fallon and the FRTC is the nation’s premier training environment comprised of airspace and challenging ranges. For more than 70 years, Fallon has enabled aviators to learn critical skills and tactics that give us an advantage.

Source: United States Navy

Beginning in April, Combat Aircrews and support personnel assigned to VP-46 arrived in strategic locations in both 5th and 6th Fleet AORs in support of Maritime Security Operations. During their tenure in theatre, the Grey Knights will support Commander, Task Force (CTF) 57 and 67 and utilize the P-8A Poseidon aircraft to conduct various anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Recognize (ISR) missions, as well as other strategic tasking supporting our national interests.

“After months of preparation and planning it’s finally our time to relieve our brothers and sisters and show the CTF how the Grey Knights can take any task thrown at them,” said Lt. Cmdr. Kyle Sanders, Operations Officer for VP-46, “These next few months will be challenging but that’s what we train for and that’s what makes us the ‘Oldest and the Best”.

While on deployment, VP-46 will operate with our allied and host nation partners, ever furthering the knowledge of our professions and the relationships we share.

Source: United States Navy

The exercise simulated real battle damage to the ex-Boone using controlled static detonations while the ship was being towed from Philadelphia. This allowed the Navy to practice battle damage assessment and repair responses similar to a real world scenario.

“Battle damage assessment and repair is supported by a wide range of organizations. This event tied every piece of that overall continuum together,” said Cmdr. Taylor South, MDSU 2 salvage engineer.

MDSU2 embarked on ex-Boone while the ship was under tow and responded to the static detonations simulating battle damage. They practiced key skills for battle damage assessment and repair to a ship needing additional support to continue the mission or get back to port for repairs, such as cutting, welding, and pumping.

“MDSU2 provided initial response for assessment, triage, and handoff,” South added. “It allowed the team to actually do things on a Naval vessel. We were actually reaching back to the Incident Response Center, who was also feeding information to Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center (MARMC). They would send us questions so they could prepare their repair efforts.”

Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC), Carderock Division engineers were also instrumental in helping to keep all participants safe.

Leading up to the  event, Carderock engineers designed a training exercise for the MDSU2 team, which included specifying the size and location of the explosives placed on the ship to maximize realism while maintaining safe levels of damage, as well as Navy stability requirements.

“We worked closely with MDSU2 to develop a blast event that would provide a suitable level of damage for training purposes without risking the platform or causing significant structural damage,” said Dr. Ken Nahshon, the Carderock engineer who was on site during the exercise and was responsible for weapons effects, ship structure and stability..

This was accomplished using Carderock-developed software tools for analyzing weapons effects and stability. In addition, Carderock’s Douglas Griggs designed, installed and operated the Satellite Telemetry Event Relay System (STERS), a novel fire and flood sensor monitoring system, to provide real-time hull monitoring data during tow and weapons events. This system was able to communicate by satellite, ensuring that unexpected fire or flooding could be quickly identified.

Part of the process was preparing to tow the ship from Philadelphia to Little Creek-Fort Story. Carderock’s Michael Kipp designed the plan to ballast for tow, as well as providing stability analysis of the damaged ship after the explosives were detonated. His inputs allowed MDSU2 the pumping training they needed with simulated flooding. 

Using cutting-edge 3D Light Detection and Ranging technologies, engineers from Carderock, Naval Information Warfare Center , Pacific; NSWC Philadelphia Division and NSWC Port Hueneme Division, collected laser scans of the ship before and after the event. The scans are processed into a photo-realistic 3D model that represents a millimeter accurate digital twin of the damaged ship. This will help to inform future real-life incidents by allowing ship’s crew to quickly determine what repairs are needed based on damaged systems, components and structures.

Once the ship arrived at Little Creek, MDSU2 turned custody of the ship over to MARMC for the repair damage assessment. MARMC, using their divers, engineers and fire safety teams, conducted the assessment, formulated repair recommendations and worked plans on how repairs would be executed.

“We are excited to use this event to refine our battle damage repair strategies,” said MARMC Commanding Officer Capt. Tim Barney. “This opportunity to work with our fleet partners to strengthen our skills highlights the flexibility of our surface ship maintenance capability and capacity.”

The event was an example of the Navy forecasting and planning a way ahead if it were to encounter unforeseen battle damage during wartime.

“With the Navy’ focus on readiness, exercises like these are beneficial for our Fire Response Team and Maintenance Teams,” said MARMC Safety Department Head Frank Walker. “We need to ensure that we have the tools to make repairs anytime and anywhere.”