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TTF Bangor Breaks Ground for New Training System

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS061002-16
Release Date: 10/2/2006 3:28:00 PM

By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Angela Grube, Northwest Region Fleet Public Affairs

SILVERDALE, Wash. (NNS) -- Naval Base Kitsap (NBK), Bangor Trident Training Facility (TTF) held a ground breaking ceremony for a new addition to the K-wing, Sept. 29 at Trident Training Facility.

Only two years after Naval Base Kitsap added the K-wing to TTF, they are yet again ready to expand.

“When TTF was originally built it had wings A-J,” said Mike Berry, business and training facilities manager, Pacific Northwest Training Support Detachment. “A couple of years ago we added the K-wing to support a Los Angeles-class submarine trainer, and now we are receiving a Seawolf-class submarine trainer.”

The new trainer, which is a simulator of the control room on a submarine, will be added to TTF because USS Jimmy Carter (SSN 23) is stationed here. USS Connecticut (SSN 22) and USS Seawolf (SSN 21) will be changing their homeport to Naval Base Kitsap in the future. Currently the trainer is in New London, Conn., but will be moved here in pieces and then reassembled.

“The hardest part of the project should be the actual dismantling of the trainer and then reassembling it here,” said Tom Roper, project supervisor. “But they are taken down and moved quite a bit. It’s pretty straightforward, so I am confident we shouldn’t run into any major problems.”

The construction will more than double the size of the existing K-wing.

“The new room will be added onto the side of the wing,” said Berry. “They have to knock out a wall but will still keep the two trainers separate so we can operate them independently.”

Chief Machinist’s Mate (SS) Thomas McCord, TTF instructor, said the new trainer will definitely be put to use.

“The Sailors periodically have to demonstrate their proficiency at ship control in normal and casualty situations,” said McCord. “Depending on how long the boats are in, they try to get the Sailors to the trainer on a monthly basis. It’s a major benefit having the system in their own homeport, because they don’t have to travel anywhere to get the proper training.”

Capt. Daniel Prince, commanding officer, Trident Training Facility Bangor, said that while the construction project itself is not large, it is significant in that it is one of the first visible signs of an entire new submarine class relocating to the Pacific Northwest.

With Jimmy Carter already stationed in Bangor, and Seawolf and Connecticut coming to Bremerton over the next couple of years, all Seawolf-class attack submarines will be homeported in Kitsap County.