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Third Fleet Orchestrates Largest Navy Force Protection Exercise

Navy Newsstand

12/19/2002 9:30:00 AM

By Journalist 2nd Class McClain Shewman, 3rd Fleet Public Affairs

SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- The bridge of USS Oldendorf (DD 972) was filled with commotion as orders and information were passed during a recent Force Protection Exercise (FPEX).

An integral portion of the exercise was set at Pier 8 on Naval Station (NAVSTA) San Diego, where a slew of scenarios took place. Oldendorf was the central hub of information for the pier.

The purpose of an FPEX is to test deployable ships for the possibility of a real-world attack. A number of random injects, ranging from unidentified small boats speeding around the harbor to unidentified protestors assailing the pier gate, were part of the Commander, U.S. 3rd Fleet (COMTHIRDFLT)-managed FPEX. It was the Navy's largest FPEX to date.

"It was the largest because it encompassed three different areas. It required excellent command and control and communications amongst the battle group participants," said Capt. Bob Rochfort, COMTHIRDFLT force protection training officer.

This FPEX included seven ships and more than 5,000 Sailors participating in exercises in San Diego, Bremerton, Wash., and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

"We do these exercises to assess the ship's posture of readiness to go overseas. But also, from a larger standpoint, (we do this) to test command and control within the battle group itself. That's an important factor," said Rochfort. "When we do assess them, we're able to view potential vulnerabilities the ships have in time to get them fixed before they hit a [foreign] port."

The scenarios? Four Navy ships were moored at a pier in a foreign nation. That nation's patrol boats and security force recently went on strike, leaving the U.S. ships to fend for themselves in unfamiliar territory.

"This force protection training is in response to terrorist actions that have actually happened and killed dozens of Sailors over the last 10 years - going back to the mines against USS Princeton (CG 59) and the attack against USS Cole (DDG 67)," said Cmdr. Chuck Gaouette, commanding officer (CO) of Oldendorf and Pier 8 senior officer present afloat (SOPA). "This is the real war. Everything else is a possible war, but this is response to a real war that we're actually fighting now. This should be the area that we're best at."

As the Pier 8 SOPA, Gaouette's job was to coordinate all the resources of the ships located on the same pier. USS Benfold (DDG 65), USS Rushmore (LSD 47), USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) and Oldendorf all shared the same goal during this intense three-day exercise. They worked together as a team to combat the situations thrown at them.

Spanning the exercise across three days afforded the COMTHIRDFLT FPEX team to test every Sailor on the participating ships, ensuring a thoroughly trained battle group.

"Ships have daily duty sections, but when a small boat or an aircraft threatens the ship, you don't just respond with the duty section," said Gaouette. "You respond with everybody from the CO down. Throwing a lot of manpower at it seems to be part of the learning curve."

With quality training in hand and a fundamental knowledge base to build on, our deployable Sailors now have the experience to deal with any contingency.

"At best, this training will keep our Sailors from having to respond to a serious threat because ultimately, we're training them to solve these situations before they escalate. The safety of our Sailors is paramount and that's why we do these exercises," said Rochfort.