NNS020730-05. Squadron Exercise Provides Realistic Mine Warfare Training
By Lt. Marc Boyd, Mine Warfare Command Public Affairs
ABOARD USS CHAMPION, At Sea (NNS) -- "Underway. Shift colors!" crackled over the ship's announcing system as the shrill blast of the ship's whistle pierced the air.
USS Champion (MCM 4) was underway, participating in one of the most demanding and challenging military exercises on the Gulf Coast.
Gulf of Mexico Exercise (GOMEX) 02-2 wrapped up June 26 after nearly two weeks of at-sea and inport events. The exercise, held July 15-26, in the waters off Corpus Christi, Texas, allowed more than 500 Sailors to test their mine warfare proficiency.
The ships of Mine Warfare Readiness Group 2, including mine countermeasures ships USS Champion and USS Pioneer (MCM 9), along with coastal minehunters USS Osprey (MHC 51), USS Pelican (MHC 53) and USS Falcon (MHC 59), participated in the exercise.
Also participating in the exercise were aircrews from Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron (HM) 15, based at Corpus Christi, Texas; divers from Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit (EODMU) 6, Detachment 2 based in Ingleside, Texas; and personnel from EODMU 6, Detachment 10, based in Charleston, S.C.
Inshore Boat Unit 15 and Mobile Inshore Undersea Warfare Unit 108 Naval Reserve units, based in Corpus Christi, Texas, conducted port security and force protection exercises while the Mine Warfare Command Mobile Integrated Communications Facility provided a shore-based command and control platform during the exercise.
GOMEX marks the transition of a mine warfare readiness group from training to ready-to-deploy status and includes integrated surface, air and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) mine countermeasures (MCM) operations.
"During GOMEX, we send our ships out to exercise all of their weapons systems in tactical scenarios. We also exercise our core competencies. We minehunt, we neutralize mines and sweep for mines using all of our systems," explained Capt. Barry F. Dagnall, commander of Mine Countermeasures Squadron (MCMRON) 1, based in Ingleside, Texas. "This is basically the final training exercise for MCMRON 1 ships in their training cycle. We focus on how to integrate our helicopters, our ships and our divers into a cohesive unit."
Dagnall explained during the exercise, "We set up an exercise operating area, then create an objective. Today, we're practicing a humanitarian aid scenario where we have mined waters. We have to clear the water space in order to allow the ships providing that aid to get in and out of the port safely. We'll create a series of 'safe routes' to get in and out of port, then create operating areas in the sea where ships can conduct flight operations. The whole GOMEX exercise is the effort to get that area cleared."
A key aspect of the exercise is realism, explained Champion commanding officer Lt. Cmdr. Phil Roos.
"Maintaining realism in the exercise is the only way to train. That way the crew will know what's required if we ever have to do it in a real-world scenario," he said. "We come out here and fight the ship the way we'd expect to do it in wartime. We're stressing our ship to the maximum. We're testing the crew. We brief them and train them to take it seriously. That way we can really see how our ship operates together as a crew."
The training's realism is meeting its goal, according to Mineman 2nd Class Brad Costas.
"Exercises like GOMEX help us get more familiar with our equipment and how we would actually use it during wartime," said Costas, a Bay Area, Calif., native. "The exercise also helps us prepare for our upcoming deployment.
"The exercise is difficult because we're always working," Costas commented, who is responsible for maintaining Champion's AN/SLQ 48 Mine Neutralization Vehicle. "We go on watch, then, when we go off watch, we go back to work. We operate 24 hours a day, just like we would if it was for real."
Exercise or not, adding realism to the scenario keeps crews focused.
"You focus on your job and you won't have any problems whether it's the scenario or a real thing," said Mineman 3rd Class James Blanton, a crane operator, sonar operator and helmsman aboard Champion.
Maintaining realism also includes placing mine shapes in the water. Some mine shapes, called Versatile Exercise Mine Shapes, or VEMS, collect data on whether the mine would have detonated when the ship passed over it or used various sweep or neutralization techniques.
"An exercise control group places the mines in the training area so we won't know where they are. If we did, our job would be easy!" Dagnall explained.
"Those mine shapes simulate, as close as possible, what we think the threat might be. That allows my crew, without knowing where those mine shapes are, to take the exercise seriously," Roos said. "If they run over one, then find it, not a good feeling."
The murky waters off the coast Corpus Christi add to the difficulty of the exercise.
"This is a very good exercise area because it's very challenging. The sea bottom has varying conditions: mud, sediment and sand. On a sandy bottom, the mines will sit on top of the sand, while other times they will be buried in mud. When they start to bury, you won't get as good of sonar return so it makes them harder to find. If there's a lot of clutter, it becomes more difficult to determine what's a mine and what's not. So the conditions here are more challenging," Dagnall explained. "That's good because we want to learn how to operate in all kinds of environments, but it's like searching for a needle in a haystack when you're looking for a mine."
But it's that one needle in the haystack that can bring an entire fleet to a standstill.
"The Navy's mine warfare program is absolutely critical," Dagnall said. "Mines are a very inexpensive weapon that many countries can acquire and use to deter freedom of navigation and safe naval operations.
"If we get a report of mining in an area, it's that threat of mining that can actually slow down naval operations until we can confirm or remove the presence of mines," Dagnall continued. "Mines are going to continue to be a weapon that we'll have to deal with as a Navy. It's vitally important that we can keep waterways clear and safe."
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