Photo By Richard Allen | Participants in NUWC Division Newport’s Mark 695 Mod 1 Torpedo System Test Set...... read more read more
The Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport’s Test Equipment Engineering Branch conducted an in-depth four-week course this summer — Mark 695 Mod 1 Torpedo System Test Set (TSTS) Maintenance Training — for two Brazilian navy officers and three NUWC Division Keyport Intermediate Maintenance Activity (IMA) personnel.
The Mark 695 Mod 1 TSTS is a new system level test set that tests both Mark 46 and 54 lightweight torpedoes, an upgrade to the Mark 695 Mod 0 which tests only the Mark 54. The Mod 1 also tests both subsection and system levels and provides complex electrical, mechanical, depth, and cooling stimulus to the torpedo.
Division Newport trainers provided detailed classroom and laboratory lessons to the Brazilian and U.S. students using a combination of theoretical and practical hands-on learning. Each day began with a Q&A session to reinforce what had been learned. Students commented that they enjoyed the daily questions because it challenged them to find answers in the documentation and become familiar with the technical manual, drawings, and schematics.
“The emphasis on hands-on training and troubleshooting was very different than most training … very beneficial and much easier to retain,” a Keyport student said.
In other comments, a Brazilian navy officer said: “The instructors cared about the quality of their teaching and verified our understanding along the way” and “… took time to help me individually when I had questions of difficulty with specific topics.”
Including both U.S. and foreign military students in training courses is part of a strategic initiative developed by both NUWC Newport and NUWC Keyport which involves partnering across NUWC to coordinate efforts and deepen the Navy’s subject matter expert bench.
There are currently five Mark 695 Mod 1 TSTS in the world, and that number is predicted to double by 2019 and increase another 50 percent by 2021. Cooperative training is a smart strategy to develop deeper, more capable operators, troubleshooters, and engineers as NUWC navigates to sustain and support the U.S and Foreign Military Sales torpedo community.
The students appreciated the diversity of participants in the class: “It enhances the experience of all by exposure to different skills and points of view and provides improved course content with a wide scope of student experience,” a Brazilian navy officer said.
The Brazilian navy uses both Mark 48 heavyweight and Mark 46 lightweight torpedoes. In support of their lightweight Mark 46 program, they purchased the new Mark 695 Mod 1 TSTS to modernize their IMA and to allow for potential expansion to the Mark 54 lightweight torpedo. They sent two navy personnel to take the training and then return to train more trainers. The Mod 1 TSTS used during the training will be sent to Brazil and the graduates will assist the NUWC Newport team during installation and upgrade of the Brazilian torpedo facility in late 2017.
The Navy’s lightweight torpedo IMA in Keyport currently operates the Mark 695 Mod 0 TSTS and will be receiving their first Mod 1 TSTS by December 2017. The Keyport students will return to their facilities and apply their new skills.
When asked for an overall opinion of the course, a Keyport student said: “Invaluable. We will be able to return to Keyport with a vastly improved TSTS troubleshooting methodology. This course was well planned; the instructors made very good use of time and resources.”
“This was by far the best training I have ever attended in more than nine years as a government civilian … all of the students stayed engaged and learned throughout the four weeks of the course,” another Keyport student said.
A graduation ceremony was held on Aug. 3, 2017, in Newport.
NUWC Division Newport, part of the Naval Sea System Command, is one of two divisions of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center. NUWC Division Newport’s mission is to provide research, development, test and evaluation, engineering and fleet support for submarines, autonomous underwater systems, undersea offensive and defensive weapons systems, and countermeasures. NUWC’s other division is located in Keyport, Wash.
| Date Taken: | 11.07.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 11.07.2017 14:36 |
| Story ID: | 254472 |
| Location: | NEWPORT, RI, US |
| Web Views: | 470 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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