Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Jesse Schwab | 210814-N-MZ836-3507 ATLANTIC OCEAN (Aug. 14, 2021) The Wasp-class amphibious assault...... read more read more
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The Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) returned to Naval Station Norfolk after completing Large Scale Exercise (LSE) 2021 and multiple days of deck landing qualifications (DLQ) with U.S. Army, Navy, and Marine Corps aviation units Aug. 20, 2021.
Kearsarge’s support of LSE 2021 was critical to the Navy's ability to demonstrate the employment of precise, lethal, and overwhelming force globally. The valuable time at sea also helped increase the warfighting proficiency of the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) which is in the early stages of its pre-deployment training cycle.
“We were able to integrate the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) and our crew for one of the largest events in recent naval history to exercise our abilities as a global naval force,” said Lt. Cmdr. Todd Mousel, Kearsarge’s assistant operations officer.
Mousel said LSE 2021 provided the Kearsarge ARG with an extra opportunity to integrate with the 22nd MEU, USS Arlington (LPD 24), and embarked supporting units to establish aviation, maritime, and amphibious operations across the ARG/MEU team.
Although LSE 2021 utilized virtual and constructive training, much of the training was live. The ship’s deck department and embarked Assault Craft Unit 4 (ACU 4) landing craft, air cushions (LCACs) practiced physically transporting Marines and their equipment from ship to shore, which is Kearsarge’s primary mission.
“We did a lot of training with the LCACs and Marines,” said Lt. Chris Helms, Kearsarge’s deck officer. “Now that we have this integrated experience, we’ve learned how we all operate and we’ve built relationships with the Marines and LCAC crews. We won’t have to start from scratch next time we work with them.”
Helms said Kearsarge’s blue-green team is even more of an asset following this early integration opportunity.
“If we had to leave on a real world mission, the coordination, planning, and execution would be a lot easier now than it would have been had we not integrated yet,” said Helms. “We are 100 percent more prepared for deployment now.”
LSE provided Kearsarge’s well deck operators and LCAC crews an opportunity to increase their proficiency delivering Marines to the fight. The ship’s flight deck crew and several aviation crews yielded similar training benefits from repetitions not only during LSE but from four days of DLQs immediately after LSE concluded.
Kearsarge’s air department completed over 1,400 launches and recoveries of eight different types of aircraft for the U.S. Army’s 2nd General Support Aviation Battalion, 501st Aviation Regiment, Marine Corps 22nd MEU and Navy Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 28 during their three weeks underway.
“We have tested the boundaries of our air department with the operations we have done so far,” said Lt. Cmdr. Nick Ballard, Kearsarge’s assistant air officer. “We successfully completed hundreds of flight operations which helped a lot of the Marine, Army, and Navy aviators qualify to land on Kearsarge.”
Kearsarge also completed its first vertical replenishment-at-sea since the ship’s deployment in 2019.
“That was a big deal for us because most of our crew had never participated in a vertical replenishment before,” said Ballard. “Everyone came together and got a plan going. We made it happen despite any challenges we may have had.”
Ballard said Kearsarge’s air department gained valuable training and experience from LSE and the DLQs.
“LSE 21 was a great opportunity to work together and get more proficient in what we do,” said Ballard. “We have a much more confident and capable team now.”
Kearsarge, homeported at Naval Station Norfolk, is entering a brief maintenance opportunity before moving on to the amphibious squadron MEU integration phase of the pre-deployment training cycle.
| Date Taken: | 08.20.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 08.20.2021 07:10 |
| Story ID: | 403584 |
| Location: | ATLANTIC OCEAN |
| Web Views: | 510 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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