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USS Bulkeley Leads Lucky Mariner Exercise

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS140105-01
Release Date: 1/5/2014 9:02:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Shane A. Jackson, USS Bulkeley Public Affairs

ARABIAN GULF (NNS) -- The guided-missile destroyer USS Bulkeley (DDG 84) led a group of U.S. Navy, Royal Navy and civilian merchant ships during Lucky Mariner 14-1, Oct. 28-31.

Lucky Mariner is a semiannual U.S. Navy, coalition, and commercial shipping exercise in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility designed to integrate the civil-military response to a global shipping threat.

'Each Lucky Mariner exercise helps us go to a new level of security,' said Cmdr. Alexander Soukhanov, commanding officer for Naval Cooperation and Guidance for Shipping - Chicago (NCAGS). 'This year went really well for all involved.'

Ships from the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, and Royal Navy filled the roles of aggressor, victim and protector. Bulkeley acted as the scene-of-action commander throughout the exercise. Embarked on Bulkeley were staff and enlisted support from NCAGS and Commander, Task Force (CTF) 55, including Capt. Brendan McLane, deputy commodore for Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 50.

'We were executing area defense of a fairly large region with multiple ships to provide safety for shipping,' said Lt. Bryan Wolfe, future operations and planning officer for DESRON 50. 'It has been awhile since we have had this large of an exercise. Everyone did a great job of coordinating the various assets involved into one plan while merchant ships were transiting nearby.'

Military and civilian ships played the roles of victims and aggressors with Bulkeley serving as the protecting vessel throughout the first two days of the exercise.

The participating ships included HMS Montrose (F236), the Afloat Forward Staging Base (Interim) USS Ponce (AFSB(I) 15), the patrol coastal (PC) ship USS Sirocco (PC 6), three U.S. Coast Guard cutters and three civilian merchant vessels.

'The crew of Bulkeley was there to support with maneuvering boards, tactical signals, providing protection for their own area and managing the overall threat area,' said Wolfe. 'It was a pretty big task but they handled it very well.'

The sea phase of Lucky Mariner concluded Oct. 31, to be followed by a lessons learned conference in order to improve Best Management Practices (BMP).

Bulkeley is currently deployed as part of the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group supporting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility.