NNS020905-01 Port Royal Gets Early Jump on IDTC
Release Date: 9/5/2002 7:47:00 AM
From USS Port Royal Public Affairs
PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (NNS) -- The cycle of a surface warship from one deployment to the next is much like the annual rhythm of a major league baseball team.
Similar to a top-notch baseball team moving from spring training to the regular season and then on to the World Series, warships progress through the inter-deployment training cycle (IDTC), starting with a shipyard maintenance period and the basic training phase.
The ship then moves to the intermediate and, finally, advanced training phase before peaking for the "World Series" of deployment. The season is over when the ship returns from deployment and then starts again with shipyard "spring training."
Occasionally, this rhythm is changed for operational reasons. Such was the case recently with the Pearl Harbor-based guided missile cruiser USS Port Royal (CG 73).
The Aegis cruiser finished her "regular season and World Series" deployment in late May 2002. Normally the ship and crew would have been allowed the ensuing months to relax after the long deployment and prepare the eight-year old warship for her August to October 2002 shipyard repair period.
However, because so many U.S. Navy ships deployed for the global war on terrorism, Port Royal was assigned to participate in Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2002 exercise in late June.
After completing a successful deployment with the USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) Battle Group, the chance for the "extra" World Series of RIMPAC represented a tremendous opportunity to get a huge head start on the IDTC.
The cruiser kicked off RIMPAC 2002 on June 26 by embarking Commander, Cruiser-Destroyer Group Five (CCDG5) and his battle staff as the multi-national forces (MNF) commander. In addition to conducting flagship duties, Port Royal also served as the Sea Combat Commander (SCC) for the multi-national forces.
Having just completed a deployment as the air defense commander for the Stennis Battle Group, Port Royal quickly had to make her own line up changes, shift from air defense to surface/subsurface defense, and ready herself for battle against diesel submarines in an extremely challenging acoustic environment.
"It was very much like going from the American to National League," said Capt. Lee Geanuleas, commanding officer of Port Royal. "In battle group air defense, we had a lineup of power hitters that rivaled the famous 1927 New York Yankees' 'murderers' row.' Our Aegis SPY-1B radar was our clean-up hitter. But for RIMPAC, we had to dramatically change our style from American League homerun hitting to the hit and run, base-stealing of National League baseball. In hunting submarines, our SPY-1B was of little help and we had to work our anti-submarine warfare teams very aggressively."
With RIMPAC 2002 being the biggest undersea warfare RIMPAC exercise in memory, Port Royal had the opportunity to practice anti-submarine tactics that she had infrequently exercised while battle group air defense commander.
"RIMPAC provided a great opportunity to work against foreign diesel subs who use tactics that we haven't actually gotten to see in action before," said Port Royal's Sonar Technician (Surface) 1st Class (SW) Matthew McIntosh. "The difference between going against a real diesel boat and U.S. Navy Los Angeles-class submarine trying to simulate a diesel boat is huge."
The three weeks at sea for RIMPAC was very much like a seven-game World Series. There were highs and lows for the cruiser's crew as they worked hard to make the most of the opportunity they had been given.
By the time Port Royal and the MNF returned to Pearl Harbor on July 18, she had made great strides and had a head start on the next deployment's training cycle. Tired but unbowed, the men and women of the Navy's last Aegis cruiser reunited with their families and friends.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
