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6th Fleet Admiral Says "Fighting Flagship" Living Up To Its Name

Navy Newsstand

Story Number: NNS030711-19

Release Date: 7/11/2003 2:22:00 PM

By Chief Journalist (AW) Monica Hallman, USS La Salle Public Affairs

GAETA, Italy (NNS) -- USS La Salle (AGF 3), often called the "Fighting Flagship" because of its increased operational missions since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, has added to its notable 39-year history with its recent participation in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.

La Salle previously performed a mostly diplomatic mission as flagship for Vice Adm. Scott Fry, Commander, U.S. 6th Fleet. But rigorous joint training operations and exercises over the past year-and-a-half transformed this command and control ship into a credible force and flexible player in the Mediterranean Sea during Iraqi Freedom operations.

"She did escort operations; she did a boarding," said Fry. "She was able to take on the force protection monitoring role for the massive number of military sealift command ships that we had in here. And being able to do those things allowed me to move the force to other areas of the Mediterranean to do other jobs, or to surge to the 5th Fleet, where they needed their Tomahawk launch capabilities."

As the sea base for 6th Fleet operations, La Salle was the site of a "war room," where 6th Fleet leaders oversaw daily aircraft sorties from USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) and USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), as well as tomahawk land air missiles strikes from warships in the eastern Mediterranean. The flagship is also qualified in non-compliant maritime interception operations and has embarked both Army and Navy helicopters to perform deck-landing qualifications for maximum flexibility of its flight deck. And it's why the 6th Fleet admiral frequently refers to La Salle as "the multi-purpose mighty fighting flagship."

"She really has become the multi-mission platform that doesn't just carry the admiral and his staff around to perform the command and control function, but actually contributes to the variety of missions that the fleet is required to perform," Fry said. "And that's what makes La Salle so very, very valuable. Because she truly is a multi-purpose platform."

The admiral adds with its new operational role, the flagship exemplifies the Chief of Naval Operation's Sea Power 21's concept of "sea-basing," or the ability of naval ships to project sovereignty and operate independently at sea for sustained periods of time.

"We're able to operate anywhere in the Mediterranean area of responsibility," Fry said. "We take our command and control with us. We can stay at sea for a long time. We can base helicopters here; we can base other units here."

The ship recently returned to its forward-deployed homeport in Gaeta, Italy, after a short trip to Trieste, in northeastern Italy. It will be undergoing a three-month overhaul period this summer before returning to its role in Mediterranean operations as the Sixth Fleet's "Fighting Flagship."