Truman Gets Underway for COMPTUEX

Photo By Petty Officer 3rd Class Thomas Bonaparte Jr. | 180201-N-SM112-005 ATLANTIC OCEAN (Feb. 01, 2018) Sailors make preparations to depart Naval Station Norfolk on the bridge aboard USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75). Truman is underway for composite training unit exercise (COMPTUEX), which evaluates the strike group's ability as a whole to carry out sustained combat operations from the sea - ultimately certifying the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group for deployment. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Thomas Bonaparte Jr./Released)  

NORFOLK, VA, UNITED STATES

02.01.2018

Story by Petty Officer 1st Class Travis Kuykendall 

USS Harry S Truman

NORFOLK, Va. – The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group (HST CSG) took another step in its pre-deployment work-up cycle by commencing the composite training unit exercise (COMPTUEX) Feb 1.
COMPTUEX is an intensive, month-long exercise designed to fully integrate units of HST CSG, while testing the strike group’s ability as a whole to carry out sustained combat operations from the sea. Ships, squadrons and staffs will be tested across every core warfare area within their mission sets through a variety of simulated and live events, including air warfare, strait transits, and responses to surface and subsurface contacts and electronic attacks.
Completing these assessments effectively certifies Truman as a deployment-ready fighting force capable of commencing missions overseas.
“COMPTUEX tests our ability to combine all units and capabilities within the strike group into a cohesive, multi-mission fighting force that can perform sustained combat operations at sea,” said Rear Adm. Gene Black, HST CSG commander. “Performing this critical evolution now, before deployment, allows our strike group to find out its strengths, but more importantly to pin-point where we can better integrate as a team.”
During the exercise, trainers, mentors and assessors from Carrier Strike Group 4, the U.S. Fleet Forces Command formation charged with training and mentoring Atlantic Fleet Carrier Strike Groups, Amphibious Ready Groups, and independently deploying surface ships for deployment, will embark with participating units to provide training through carefully planned, realistic scenarios.
“More than anything, COMPTUEX gets us into the right state of mind,” said Intelligence Specialist 2nd Class Andrew Horstead. “The things we do are essential. It prepares us for a variety of scenarios we may encounter on deployment. COMPTUEX is the symbolic battle between our adversaries and coalition forces.”
HST CSG is scheduled to deploy later this year. Strike group elements participating in COMPTUEX include USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) and embarked Carrier Air Wing One; staffs from Carrier Strike Group 8 and Destroyer Squadron 28, guided missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG 60); guided-missile destroyers USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51), USS Bulkeley (DDG 84), USS The Sullivans (DDG 68), USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81), USS Farrragut (DDG 99), USS Jason Dunham (DDG 109), USS Forrest Sherman (DDG 98), the Royal Norwegian Navy frigate HNoMS Roald Amundsen (F 311) and the Sachsen-class German frigate FGS Hessen (F 221).
COMPTUEX is the final stage of pre-deployment workups for the strike group. For USS Harry S. Truman, the evolution caps off more than seven months of training to ensure the ship and crew are ready to deploy.
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• Date Taken: 02.01.2018
• Date Posted: 02.01.2018 17:54
• Story ID: 264347
• Location: NORFOLK, VA, US