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Safeguard Completes SALVEX With ROK Navy

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS060404-01
Release Date: 4/4/2006 12:28:00 PM

From USS Safeguard Public Affairs

CHINHAE, Republic of Korea (NNS) -- USS Safeguard (ARS 50), a rescue and salvage ship of Commander, Task Force (CTF) 76, conducted Salvage Exercise (SALVEX) 06 with the Republic of Korea (ROK) Navy diving and salvage ship ROKS Pyong Taek (ATS 27), March 16-30.

The two navies completed two weeks of combined salvage and rescue training, both in-port and at-sea, focusing on a number of practical areas, including combined diving operations, heavy lift procedures, underwater cutting and welding, and a drill to practice procedures for moving an injured diver to medical care ashore.

Safegaurd and Pyong Taek also teamed up in a real-world salvage operation to recover components of a U.S. Air Force F-16C fighter that was lost at sea March 14. The pilot ejected safely and was recovered by the ROK Air Force.

The real-world operation within SALVEX proved the need for interoperability between U.S. and ROK Navy, said Lt. Cmdr. Doyle Hodges, Safeguard commanding officer.

“The opportunity for Safeguard and Pyong Taek to work together in the salvage of the F-16 was a unique chance to build exactly the skills and interoperability that the salvage exercise was designed to achieve in a real-world setting, ”said Hodges. “Pyong Taek made valuable contributions in the pre-operational planning, and her work on station effectively doubled the amount of searching that could be achieved in the limited window available.”

Weather conditions prevented the aircraft from being fully recovered; however, the overall exercise was a big success in proving the ability of U.S. and Korean forces to work together in challenging conditions, said Hodges.

Approximately 200 U.S. Navy and ROK Navy personnel took part in the annual SALVEX in ROK, which began in 1985. Safeguard’s last SALVEX was conducted in September with the Indian navy. As part of that exercise, the two navies worked together to recover an Indian Seahawk jet that was submerged for the past 30 years and only recently discovered by the Indian navy. Before the SALVEX in India, Safeguard was deployed as part of Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) 05 in which they conducted bilateral training with the six different navies.

"One of the great privileges of being forward deployed to 7th Fleet is the opportunity to work together with our friends and allies all across the Pacific,” said Hodges. “Exercises such as the one we just completed in Korea, or those we completed last summer throughout Southeast Asia and India, are both a unique opportunity for our Sailors to experience other cultures, and a valuable way for us to contribute to 7th Fleet's Theater Security and Cooperation Program."

Safeguard is a forward deployed rescue-and-salvage ship operating out of Sasebo, Japan, and is part of Task Force 76, the Navy’s only forward deployed amphibious force.