Five U.S. Navy ships concluded a two-week independent deployer certification exercise (IDCERTEX) off the coast of Southern California and Hawaii Feb. 20.
The exercise provided a multi-ship environment to train and certify independent deployers in surface warfare, air defense, maritime interception operations, command and control/information warfare, command, control, computers and combat systems intelligence and mine warfare.
The exercise led by Commander, U.S. 3rd Fleet (C3F) and executed by Commander, Carrier Strike Group Fifteen (CSG 15), included the guided-missile cruisers USS Lake Champlain (CG 57), USS Chosin (CG 65), guided-missile destroyers USS Preble (DDG 88), USS Chafee (DDG 90), littoral combat ship USS Freedom (LCS 1) and USS Fort Worth’s (LCS 3) Crew 102.
IDCERTEX served as CSG 15’s final opportunity to evaluate and certify Preble, Chafee and Fort Worth Crew 102, embarked aboard Freedom, across multiple warfare areas prior to regularly scheduled deployments.
Chafee, Chosin, Lake Champlain and Preble conducted their training off the coast of Hawaii while Freedom participated off the coast of Southern California.
Capt. Patrick Keyes, commander, U.S. 3rd Fleet, assistant chief of staff for plans, policy, training and readiness, said:
In the end, Chafee, Preble and Crew 102 were able to get fully certified, and now they are ready to execute all mission areas while deployed in the Western Pacific and Arabian Gulf.
Crew 102 was certified in shipboard firefighting, man-overboard drills, visit, board, search, and seizure (VBSS), and other ship specific training. The integrated phase consists of flight operations, submarine tracking, strait transit formations, replenishment-at-sea between multiple ships and aircraft, and other required mission evolutions.
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Image: US Navy