USS Puller Participates in Alligator Dagger

Photo By Capt. Maida Zheng | U.S. 5TH FLEET AREA OF OPERATIONS (Sept. 8, 2017) - Col. Joseph Clearfield, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit commanding officer, climbs up a ladder to observe Marines with the 15th MEU’s Maritime Raid Force conduct a visit, board, search and seizure mission aboard USS Lewis B. Puller (T-ESB 3) during Alligator Dagger 2017. VBSSs are conducted to capture and control a suspected enemy vessel in order to combat terrorism, piracy and smuggling operations on the sea. Available expeditionary Navy/Marine Corps forces stand ready aboard ships to assure allies, deter potential adversaries and provide persistent U.S. presence. Alligator Dagger provides opportunity to enhance capabilities in critical mission sets inherent to the U.S. Navy-Marine Corps team. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Capt. Maida Zheng/Released)  

GULF OF ADEN

09.21.2017

Courtesy Story

Task Force 51/5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade

U.S. 5TH FLEET AREA OF OPERATIONS – Sailors and Marines aboard the expeditionary sea base USS Lewis B. Puller (ESB 3) and Marines assigned to the 15th Marine expeditionary unit (MEU) and Fleet Anti-terrorist Security Team Central Command completed combat rehearsals for Alligator Dagger 2017, Sept. 16.

Alligator Dagger, led by Naval Amphibious Forces, Task Force 51/5th Marine Expeditionary Expedition Brigade, is a dedicated, unilateral combat rehearsal that combined Navy and Marine Corps units of the America Amphibious Ready Group and embarked 15th MEU to practice, rehearse and exercise integrated capabilities available to U.S. Central Command both afloat and ashore. The exercise also tested USS Puller’s maritime capabilities for crisis response and contingency operations within U.S. 5th Fleet.

“We deployed with the ability to embark other forces including the mine hunting unit, which allows us to sweep a safe path to the beach for the amphibious forces,” said Lt Cmdr. Douglas Ivey, the Puller’s combat system’s officer. “Since then we’ve been used as a support vessel for various aviation assets, acted as a target vessel for visit, board, search and seizure exercises and provided the mine hunting boats for surface exercises.”

Commissioned Aug. 17, Puller is the first U.S. ship to be commissioned outside of the United States and the first of the expeditionary sea base variant. Due to its versatility and range of capabilities, the ship continues to be assessed for use in a variety of potential mission areas.

“A lot of what we’re doing in Alligator Dagger 2017 is learning what this ship can do,” said Ivey. “This is a new platform. It was originally designed for aviation mine counter measures and special operation forces support, but now that we’re using it in an operational environment, we realized that USS Puller has the potential to support operations in a lot of different ways. ”

The ship also demonstrated its ability to support training for the 15th MEU’s Low Altitude Air Defense Detachment (LAAD), further strengthening its blue-green team integration.

“While we were onboard we had the opportunity to conduct live fire gun shoots, weapons training with Puller Sailors as well as establish training plans for defense from low altitude air threats for the ship,” said Capt. Thomas Rees, officer in charge, LAAD. “Any time we have a chance to train our personnel on a different platform or environment it improves their ability to defend no matter what the surroundings.”

Expeditionary base USS Lewis B. Puller (ESB 3) is forward-deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations to extend U.S. Naval Forces Central Command’s maritime reach in 5th Fleet by supporting a wide variety of missions including counter-piracy operations, maritime security operations, humanitarian aid, disaster relief and crisis response operations.

U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations encompasses about 2.5 million square miles of water area and includes the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Red Sea and parts of the Indian Ocean. The expanse comprises 20 countries and includes three critical choke points at the Strait of Hormuz, the Suez Canal and the Strait of Bab al Mandeb at the southern tip of Yemen.

• Date Taken: 09.21.2017
• Date Posted: 09.21.2017 01:13
• Story ID: 249062
• Location: GULF OF ADEN