U.S. Navy personnel deployed to Rota, Spain, recently took time to practice ordnance loading in what were described as “non-traditional locations”.
The U.S. 6th Fleet shared photos from the exercise showing MK 48 inert training torpedoes being loaded onto a submarine.
U.S. 6th Fleet, together with the Virginia-class submarine USS California (SSN 781), Navy Munitions Command Rota, Spain and Naval Submarine Support Facility (NSSF) New London, conducted the ordnance loading exercise on January 13.
This was the first in a series of expeditionary weapons loading events planned for the next year in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations.
This exercise brought together Navy components that do not traditionally work together into an adaptive force package (AFP), bringing together the critical skills, personnel, and equipment necessary to complete the mission.
Commander, Task Force (CTF) 68, commands all naval expeditionary forces in U.S. European Command (EUCOM) and U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) areas while the CTF 69 is responsible for submarine warfare operations in the USEUCOM and USAFRICOM areas of responsibility.
CTF 69 is composed of fast-attack and guided-missile submarines capable of locating and destroying enemy surface and sub-surface vessels.