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Stennis Strike GroupTakes ASW Course From Classroom to Ocean

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS060918-12
Release Date: 9/18/2006 12:13:00 PM

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class (SW) Joseph R. Vincent, USS John C. Stennis Public Affairs

USS JOHN C. STENNIS, At Sea (NNS) -- USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) became the first Pacific Fleet aircraft carrier to conduct the second phase of the Integrated Anti-Submarine Warfare Course (IAC II) at sea Sept 15.

Organized by the Fleet Anti-Submarine Warfare Command, IAC II was a three-day classroom-based training that underwent changes and is now a five-day underway-training operation off the coast of California. IAC II tests the combined air, surface, and sub-surface anti-submarine (ASW) systems of Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 3. It is team-based training where the system is only as strong as its weakest link.

“Underway ASW training allows us to train together with our own systems, sensors, operations tasking and pre-planned responses that we created in the classroom during phase one of IAC,” said Commodore, Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 21, Capt. Mike Salvato. “It allows us to adjust to the weather and many other tangibles that are not easily replicated in the classroom.”

The joint exercise includes U.S. and Swedish sea, undersea and air commands, including Stennis, USS Antietam (CG 54), USS Preble (DDG 88), USS O'Kane (DDG 77), USS Paul Hamilton (DDG 60), USNS Bridge (AOE 10), USS Key West (SSN 722) and HSWMS Gotland in and on the water. There are also representatives from Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 9, Helicopter Squadron Light (HSL) 45, Det. 1; HSL-43, Det. 3 and Swedish Fixed-Wing Patrol Squadrons 40 and 47 in the air.

During the exercise, DESRON 21 has been embarked aboard Stennis working with the systems and sensors of the ships and squadrons involved to increase the precision and lethality of the strike group’s ASW.

“We’re getting everyone to work together on the big picture to protect the ship,” said Aviation Warfare Systems Operator 1st Class (AW/SW) John Norman. “That’s the important part.”

The DESRON 21 and CVW-9 units work in concert to detect an advanced diesel powered submarine of the Swedish Navy, fine tuning all available systems used in the detection of an unknown, and presumed hostile, sub-surface contact. Moreover, the joint nature of the event is designed to encourage and enhance interoperability between all the players.

According to Norman, ASW is a “high variable” physical environment in which no single platform or set of systems works all of the time. Because of this, in ASW, teamwork greatly increases the reliability of the combined undersea, surface, airborne and space-based systems currently being employed to detect and combat enemy submarines.

With the foundation of global power projection resting on the shoulders of ASW, training environments like IAC II become even more critical as CSG 3 prepares for deployment in 2007.