USS Iwo Jima (LHD7), USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43) and USS Farragut (DDG 99), have overcome challenges brought on by inclement weather in order to execute complex mission sets during Exercise Bold Alligator 2014 (BA14), while ensuring the safety of personnel, ships and equipment.
When weather forecasters predicted conditions in the operating area, consisting of waves from 12-24 feet and winds from 35-50 knots, an integrated Navy and Marine Corps staff from Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 2 and 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigage (2d MEB) formed a crisis action team to determine how the force could divert south to balance safety with quick reaction force tasking, and other amphibious operations.
Since the arrival of the inclement weather three days into the exercise, the Iwo Jima ARG and 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) have continued to execute complex flight operations, a notional strait transit in support of an embassy reinforcement operation, an amphibious raid, and the transportation of the Fly-In Command Element (FICE) from Iwo Jima to USS Kearsarge (LHD 3).
Lt. John Gray, Amphibious Squadron 8 operations officer, said:
The presence of the bad weather has great training value.
It served as a reality check that events aren’t scripted, and we will have to plan around weather and other uncontrollable factors in a real-world crisis response environment. From an exercise point of view, this changed some of the locations of the ranges and events we were planning to do, but it was certainly realistic.
BA14 is scheduled to conclude as planned Nov. 10, as the weather was improving.
BA14 is a multinational exercise that showcases the advantages of sea basing and the Navy and Marine Corps’ full range of amphibious operations to include crisis response.
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Press release, Image: US Navy