Sailors from the multipurpose amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5) and Marines from 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) departed Naval Station Norfolk for a two-week underway in order to complete Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPTUEX) off the East Coast of the United States.
COMPTUEX affords the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group the ability to interact with other ships including the George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group and smaller ships like the guided-missile destroyers USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51), USS Truxtun (DDG 103) and the guided-missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55), among others.
During the exercise each ship will be assessed on command and control techniques, situational response, and a series of scenario-driven exercises including anti-submarine warfare, electronic warfare and maritime interdiction operations aimed at integrating the ships with the rest of the strike group.
Each scenario tests a different aspect of each ship’s ability to face the possible challenges the strike group and the support ships might face while operating in the U.S. 5th and 6th Fleet area of responsibilities. Sailors will be testing nearly every action involved in the normal operation of a Navy vessel at sea, to include intelligence collections and response, visit board search and seizure, along with air and surface defense.
This exercise will test nearly every Sailor aboard the ship in one method or another. And testing will be the last step to fully certify and prepare Bataan for its upcoming deployment scheduled for early 2014.
“These exercises are extremely important for our Sailors and the ship while preparing for deployment; we need to knock this out of the park,” said Bataan Command Master Chief Kevin M. Goodrich. “The evolutions we will see during the exercise are the same scenarios currently deployed ships are seeing in their normal operations. “
This exercise is scheduled as the last underway for Bataan’s Amphibious Ready Group prior to her deployment and the last opportunity for the ships in her group to interact in a training environment prior to be tested by actual foreign interactions throughout the world.
[mappress] Press Release, December 11, 2013; Image: US Navy