Kearsarge Increase Warfighting Efficiency During SWATT

ATLANTIC OCEAN

09.30.2021

Story by Petty Officer 2nd Class Jamica Ballard 

USS Kearsarge (LHD 3)

The Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) successfully completed Surface Warfare Advanced Technical Training (SWATT) with Naval Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center (SMWDC) Sept. 20 to Sept. 30, 2021.

Kearsarge, the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Arlington (LPD 24), the Whidbey Island-class amphibious dock landing ship USS Gunston Hall (LSD 44), and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Paul Ignatius (DDG 117), trained together during SWATT and implemented various warfare tactics led by warfare tactics instructors (WTIs) who acted as mentors to the crews of the ships.

“The purpose behind SWATT is to look at each warfare area and try to flex and stress the ships out with different events that cater to the tactics of each of those warfare areas,” said Lt. Patrick McDonough, a WTI with SMWDC, who specializes in amphibious warfare.
Amphibious warfare training, anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare, air defense exercise training, and live-fire exercises of ships’ weapons systems are conducted in an integrated environment during SWATT and analyzed by SMWDC headquarters and analysts like Phillip Neff, a fleet analytic technician at Naval Surface Warfare Center Corona.

“We’re collecting data to help all ships and aircraft learn how to coordinate and fight together as a force and how to do things better than they were doing it before,” said Neff. “We are a bridge from the basic phase to the advanced and integrated phases. You start to learn what warfare commanders are and how to work together as a team.”

Capt. James Kenny, SMWDC senior mentor, said that the goal during SWATT is to pique the interest of all tactical watch standers to try to think more tactically, to set their systems up best for success, and to propose outside-the-box ideas to be better prepared for potential conflicts.

“The Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) SWATT was my first opportunity to serve as a SMWDC senior mentor, and I could not have been more impressed by the performance of the WTIs on each of the ships and, just as important, the willingness to learn and receptiveness to constructive feedback displayed by every member of the Kearsarge ARG,” said Kenny. “Seeing these ships work together for the first time, at sea, with a rigorous and challenging set of scenarios, was inspiring.”

Kearsarge, homeported at Naval Station Norfolk, is entering a brief maintenance opportunity before returning to operations at sea.

• Date Taken: 09.30.2021
• Date Posted: 10.24.2021 13:44
• Story ID: 407219
• Location: ATLANTIC OCEAN