Operation Bold Alligator 2012 underway
February 5th, 2012 | Admirals Amphibious operations Amphibious Ready Group Bold Alligator Gator Navy Navy | Posted by Dan Lamothe
ABOARD THE AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT SHIP WASP — Greetings from the Atlantic Ocean, where we’re covering the largest amphibious exercise on the East Coast since the beginning of the Iraq war.
Rear Adm. Kevin D. Scott briefs reporters aboard the amphibious assault ship Wasp on Saturday on Operation Bold Alligator 2012. (Mike Morones / Staff)
Bold Alligator 2012 involves at least 14,000 personnel from the U.S., France, Great Britain and other countries, and at least 25 ships. The majority of them are American, but Canada and France have both chipped in with their own hardware, as well.
Conceptually, the forces at sea are currently in the early stages of planning an attack on enemy forces from the fictional country of Garnet, a common enemy in what military officers call the “Treasure Coast” scenario. A mechanized Garnetian division has invaded the neighboring country of Amber, and is pushing north toward Amberland, which has asked for coalition assistance to stop advance. Garnet already has mined several harbors and established anti-ship missiles on the coastline, military officials said.
In reality, Bold Alligator will require naval officers to think on their feet to develop strategy and defeat their fictional enemy. They’ll be tested on how they do, and be forced to adapt to real-world changes ranging from scheduling mishaps to bad weather. An amphibious raid will be launched from several ships and coordinated from the Wasp over the next couple of days.
Exploring the ship, it’s clear that many of the Marines on board have been to sea only a few times until Bold Alligator, if ever. For example, Sgt. Michael McDaniel told me that he deployed with 2nd Assault Amphibian Battalion, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., to Iraq for both the initial push to Baghdad in 2003 and urban combat in Fallujah in 2004-05. He’s still with the unit, and has never participated in an amphibious exercise on this scale.
“We’re down here for quite a few hours every day doing maintenance,” he said in Wasp’s well deck, over the clanks, scrapes and groans of Marines moving and cleaning vehicles and weapons. “As long as we stay on top of maintenance, everything should be pretty good.”
Bold Alligator has significant attention from some of the top officers in the Navy and Marine Corps. On board Saturday was Adm. Jonathan Greenert, the chief of naval operations; Gen. Joseph Dunford, the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps; Lt. Gen. John Paxton, commanding general of II Marine Expeditionary Force; and Lt. Gen. Dennis Hejlik, commander of Marine Corps Forces Command; and Vice Adm. David Buss, deputy commander of Fleet Forces Command. That’s in addition to Rear Adm. Kevin Scott and Brig. Gen. Christopher Owens, who are leading the exercise from the Wasp.
The exercise also has attracted attention in Congress. At least four members of the House were here Saturday, including Rep. Buck McKeon, R.-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
To the extent possible, photographer Mike Morones and I will keep posting updates from the exercise, which we’ll be covering for the next several days. As you might expect at sea, Internet service has been spotty. However, a “Super Bowl Bash” is listed on the ship’s plan of the day Sunday. As a Massachusetts native and Patriots fan, that suits me just fine.
Sea spray and sea trials
June 15th, 2011 | Amphibious operations Gator Navy LPD-17 Navy Photos RHIB San Antonio class Ships SURFLANT | Posted by Bill McMichael
SURFLANT and the San Antonio wanted to tout what officials are calling a successful second phase of sea trials for the much-troubled ship, so they invited me and five other reporters and photogs to ride out from Rudee’s Inlet in Virginia Beach aboard an 11-meter RHIB Wednesday morning and conduct interviews on board as the amphibious transport dock ship sailed back to Norfolk.
The sea state out where San Antonio was steaming was about a 2, a sailor told me. But at the inlet, he said, it was more like a 4 or 5. It made for an interesting 7 a.m. transit, as you can see:
The above sea spray obviously nailed me, but I was lucky; due to some strange twist of fate, the guys on the port side of the boat were getting the worst of it — there were some really wet clothes, notebooks and cameras when we arrived.
I didn’t catch the boat captain’s name, but I got the sense that he loves this stuff. JUNE 17 UPDATE: Got his name: It’s Ensign Dave Lopez, the boat officer. Thanks, Dave!
San Antonio, coming into range. // Photo by Bill McMichael
All turned out well. And it also seems to be turning out nicely, after years of problems, for the San Antonio. Check out the story here.
One for the history books
June 10th, 2011 | Gator Navy Helicopters LPD-17 Navy Photos San Antonio class Ships testing | Posted by Bill McMichael
No, it’s not a doctored photo. That’s two — TWO — San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ships operating simultaneously.
The amphibious transport dock ships San Antonio (left) and New York steam alongside while operating together in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Virginia. // U.S. Navy Photo by MC1 (SW/AW) Edwin F. Bryan
To be fair, two of the other three commissioned ships in the class are also at sea. Mesa Verde and Green Bay are deployed. New Orleans just completed sea trials following a scheduled maintenance period. New York took part in the recent Fleet Week event in New York City and, as you can see in the June 9 photo above, is now underway, conducting unit-level training. But let’s face it: This is a rare pic — particularly since San Antonio is in it.
The class has been beset with problems from the day in 2005 when the Navy accepted San Antonio and a mountain of mechanical and electrical problems that have limited it to one deployment in five years as a commissioned ship. It’s now in the second phase of sea trials that follow cancellation of this year’s scheduled deployment and extensive — and expensive — repair work ordered by Fleet Forces Command.
Subsequent ships in the class came to the Navy in better shape than San Antonio, but only slightly. In late 2009, inspectors discovered that a bent crankshaft in one of New York’s four diesel engines, our colleague Christopher Cavas reported. Similar problems had surfaced earlier on Mesa Verde and Green Bay. New Orleans had propulsion, communication and well deck/vehicle ramp issues.
Given the problems, and the prodigious efforts to correct them, the above photo struck us as unique.
The entire program has obviously been a mess. Everyone, from Congress and Big Navy to the waterfront, is pulling for the class, and its hard-working crews, to put the problems in the rear-view mirror and fully join the fleet.
Some good news, for a change
May 26th, 2011 | Amphibious operations Gator Navy LPD-17 Maintenance Navy San Antonio class Ships testing | Posted by Bill McMichael
The much-maligned amphibious transport dock ship San Antonio returned to Norfolk Thursday afternoon after 10 days of sea trials, and commanding officer Cmdr. Thomas Kait seemed like a very happy man during a press availability in his onboard cabin.
“I would characterize it as an A-plus,” Kait told reporters. “I don’t know how many times I said `great’ or said, `This is the first time this ship’s done this in two years’.”
Kait said crew morale was sky-high, “just knowing that their gear worked. All the hard work they put forth over the past two years. I know there were a lot of people rootin’ for us who had left the command over the past six months that put a little blood and sweat into it as well. I know they were cheering for us on shore as well.”
This first of two phases of sea trials was dedicated to validating the main diesel engines. Kait said the ship operated about 80 miles off the Atlantic coast to steer clear of shipping and also kept maneuvering to a minimum, all so as not to throw off the vibration analysis equipment and other engine testing gear. A stepped series of tests, each more intense than the previous step, culminated with a full-power demonstration.
“We went full speed on all four engines for one hour,” Kait said. “We did some rudder swing checks. We shut power to the steering units to make sure they’d hold at a 25-degree rudder — which they did fantastic.” The ship then went all astern, full power, and followed that with the same steering checks performed going forward.
There was a bit of vibration as the ship got to 25 knots and up, Kait said — “which we would expect to see.” He received one report of a sailor standing between two main engines while underway who “said they were purring like kittens.”
Drive train vibration had been an issue when engineers searching for the cause last year discovered misaligned or non-tightened foundation bolts and an improperly installed main reduction gear. The problem, coming atop efforts to repair electrical, lube oil and other systemic problems, forced officials to cancel the ship’s scheduled deployment this year.
Kait, mindful of those issues, was careful not to get overly enthusiastic. “Instead of saying we’re doing great, I’d like to say that we’re getting back to where we should be,” Kait said. “We have a little bit of a checkered past, but I think we’ve overcome that. We’re not doing anything special. We’re following the maintenance requirements cards — just what every other ship does.”
During the second phase of sea trials, which begins in June, more emphasis will be placed on the San Antonio’s combat systems. “We’ll do a lot more maneuvering, to increase our proficiency,” Kait said.
If all that goes well, San Antonio will start preparing for only its second deployment since being delivered in August 2005. Kait said he couldn’t yet say when that might happen but said that the ship will begin the now-standard 20-week basic training phase. Integrated training with other amphibious ships would normally follow. But should a contingency arise, he said, San Antonio will be ready to respond once its flight and well decks are fully certified — probably by the end of summer, Kait said.
A success story, and a lesson learned
April 30th, 2011 | Board of Inspection and Survey Fleet Forces Command Gator Navy leadership Maintenance Navy Personnel Photos | Posted by Bill McMichael
A year ago, the dock landing ship Oak Hill was in poor shape — and that’s by the Fleet Forces Command chief’s reckoning. Beginning in 2005, five deployments in five years, no time for maintenance and inadequate manning had left the relatively young ship with a degraded power plant, endemic corrosion and a whole lot of systems that just didn’t work. A long-overdue yard period, money, lots of outside help and long hours produced a remarkable turnaround Apr. 4-8, when the ship passed its rigid underway material inspection by the Board of Inspection and Survey with flying colors. Oak Hill scored “green” in 16 of 18 functional areas, and “yellow” in the other two. Refurbishment and upgrade work continues, but the ship is just about back up to where officials want it to be. And it’s looking good:
The dock landing ship Oak Hill, on a recent afternoon at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story. // Photo by William H. McMichael
The lesson learned — or more accurately (over the past two years), reinforced — is that it’s far easier, and the Navy is better served, when ships are maintained on a more even keel. That means, officials say, ships accurately reporting problems, leaders honestly assessing and reporting how much money the Navy needs for ship maintenance, and fully manning ships so that commands can better perform everyday maintenance as well as prepare to fight.
For more detail, see our story in Monday’s Navy Times.
Daly: Amphibious forces are more relevant than ever
April 1st, 2011 | Admirals Amphibious operations Amphibious Ready Group Gator Navy Historical Korean War Marine Corps Marine Expeditionary Unit Maritime operations Ships The Med The Middle East | Posted by Bill McMichael
The deputy commander of Fleet Forces Command used his keynote speech at the decommissioning of the amphibious assault ship Nassau in Norfolk March 31 to stump for continued support for the “Gator Navy” and the capability to launch U.S. Marines onto contested shore, arguing that such a capability reduces the need for U.S. bases on foreign shores.
Vice Adm. Peter Daly pointed to the Essex Amphibious Ready Group and the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit providing humanitarian assistance and disaster response following the earthquake and tsunami that ravaged northern Japan; the Boxer ARG and 13th MEU being accelerated into the Persian Gulf to provide what he called “essential capacity” for potential non-combatant evacuation operations and to provide the fleet with a theater reserve force; the Bataan ARG and 22nd MEU’s short-notice (120 days early) deployment to the Mediterranean to relieve the Kearsarge ARG and 26th MEU; and the Kearsarge ARG and 26th MEU’s central role in the NATO air strike campaign against Libyan forces — in particular, their rapid movement out of the 5th Fleet area of operations, where they were relieved by Boxer and the 13th MEU, to the Med, where they have provided combat sorties and air space control.
“We are witnessing a living clinic for why we need amphibious power for our Navy,” Daly said.
More than a few military analysts have questioned whether the U.S. should maintain an amphibious capability — made famous during World War II’s Pacific theater island-hopping campaign — noting that the last significant amphibious combat landings took place at Inchon during the Korean war and that weapons such as long-range missiles make large-scale amphibious assaults obsolete. Proponents argue that the ability to launch smaller-level assaults on unimproved beachfronts continues to be an important capability. The threat alone can also be an advantage, they say, pointing to the famous Persian Gulf War feint in which a large amphibious force poised off the coast of Kuwait diverted thousands of Iraqi forces from the main battlefields.
During a Dec. 2 “DoDLive” bloggers roundtable, Brig. Gen. Christopher Owens, deputy commanding general, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, also pointed out that assault operations are but one of a wide range of possibilities on the amphibious palette and argued for keeping such a capability, while further refining concepts to “keep it relevant.”
Daly would agree.
“People often ask, `Well, maybe we don’t have to do this anymore’,” Daly said. “Maybe we don’t have to provide the bandwidth, the training and the time, and the effort and the money to do [them]. But when they were needed, they were there.”
Daly acknowledged that the capability to conduct amphibious assaults has been somewhat diluted. “The demands of land conflicts over the last decade have forced something of a separation between our Navy amphibious forces and the Marines they are designed to carry into combat,” Daly said. “Only by training together, sailing together, fighting together, can we ensure that amphibious warfare remains a premier national capability — so the country is not dependent on overseas bases, and able to conduct forcible entry without a buildup, and without a permission slip.”
San Antonio: still pierside — but getting there
March 23rd, 2011 | Board of Inspection and Survey Fleet Forces Command Gator Navy LPD-17 Maintenance Navy Photos San Antonio class Ships Surface Force Atlantic | Posted by Bill McMichael
The amphibious transport dock Mesa Verde left its Naval Station Norfolk pier at 9:05 Wednesday morning as the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group began deploying to the Med and the Libya crisis.
As it pulled away, its wake gently lapped up against the starboard-side hull of San Antonio, moored at the next pier over, in what amounted to a love tap. Mesa Verde’s crew might have preferred delivering more of a kick in the rear. The third ship in the class, Mesa Verde had been home only eight months since its last overseas deployment, and it wasn’t supposed to deploy until late 2012. Instead, it was going to sea more than a year earlier than planned in the place of San Antonio — the class’s lead ship. Commissioned in 2006 and plagued by structural and systemic issues during its maiden and only deployment in 2008-2009, it is still getting undergoing repairs.
The amphibious transport dock San Antonio, Naval Station Norfolk, March 23, 2011. // Camera phone photo by William H. McMichael
But there’s light on the horizon. According to the ship’s executive officer, Cmdr. Neil Koprowski, San Antonio is rounding into shape and on April 25 will go to sea for three weeks of intensive sea trials. Koprowski said it’ll be a “full assessment — soup to nuts” — with high visibility. One visitor, he said, will be Adm. John Harvey, commander of Fleet Forces Command, who made the call to hold San Antonio back.
If the ship passes muster, it’ll begin a 20-week basic training phase in preparation for getting back into the fleet’s rotation. Then, in October, another test: a visit from the famously tough Board of Inspection and Survey.
Koprowski, nine months into the job, is optimistic. “We’re excited about getting back out there and showing the world … we’re gonna do good things,” he said.
Got pirates?
February 21st, 2011 | Gator Navy Maritime operations Navy Pirates | Posted by Gidget Fuentes
Marines with 31st MEU's Force Reconnaissance Platoon make their way aboard combat cargo ship 1st Lt. Jack Lummus during a visit-board-search-seize training exercise Feb. 17 off Thailand during "Cobra Gold 2011" exercises.//Navy photos/MC2 Eva-Marie Ramsaran
The latest hijacking an American couple aboard their yacht Quest by Somali pirates is capturing more of the public’s attention than have dozens of other acts of piracy on the high seas, notably off east Africa where pirates are finding gold in the ransoms sought for their captured vessels ranging from large container ships to smaller craft. Pirates, it seems, face pretty good odds as they wait out for the big payday.
Once in awhile, pirates are plain overwhelmed, by firepower or manpower or just will to fight. We saw that when Navy SEAL snipers aboard the destroyer Bainbridge killed all but one of the hijackers who dared to grab the U.S. merchant ship Maersk Alabama and its captain in 2009 – the survivor last week was sentenced to 33 years in federal prison – and last September when a raid force with 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit assaulted the German-flagged cargo ship Magellan Star and captured nine Somali pirates. Other cases get less press, such as last year when the destroyer Farragut nabbed eight pirates suspected in an attempted hijacking of a Tanzanian ship. Just two weeks ago, crews aboard two Navy warships, the destroyer Momsen and cruiser Bunker Hill, blasted a pair of skiffs carrying pirates who tried to hijack the Panamania-flagged vessel Duqm.
Still, these incidents are few compared to the increasing number of hijackings on the high seas that threaten the free flow of commerce across the globe and have prompted international task forces to prevent and thwart hijackings. As of mid-February, pirates were holding for ransom 685 sailors from 30 vessels hijacked off the Somali coast, according to the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization, which warned the situation “has progressively worsened” over the past year as hijackings have become more violent.
So it’s little wonder why counter-piracy missions, including ship takedowns, have taken on a bit more gravity and somewhat greater focus as sailors and Marines continue to train and prepare for maritime interdiction missions, many which are so-called “compliant” boards – manifest, please? – at the lower end of the conflict spectrum. But the risk of a fight remains a possibility as pirates, drug-runners and human smugglers crisscross the seas in search of some easy money or fame.
It’s why senior commanders and seagoing expeditionary forces are rethinking and reshaping the tip of the spear. To stay sharp, ships and units train for potential non-compliant boardings and ship takedowns better known as VBSS – or visit, board, search and seize – missions. Just this month, a group of Force Reconnaissance Marines with the Japan-based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit did this month supported by sailors and ships with Essex Amphibious Ready Group during “Cobra Gold” exercises. With snipers aloft on a Navy SH-60 Seahawk helicopter and another warship shouldering the “captured” vessel, the maritime raid force slid down from helicopters and assaulted the combat cargo ship 1st Lt. Jack Lummus in the mock exercise.
With Americans now at the pointy end of the hijackers’ weapons, will U.S. sailors and Marines get the call from higher-ups to respond in this latest assault? And will there be a quick resolution? Stand by. The 13th MEU commander last year told a San Diego defense conference the “answer is perfectly simple: Kill the pirates,” although Col. David Coffman and other panelists at the conference agreed that such extreme missions would likely be driven by political will.
Gator life
November 19th, 2010 | Gator Navy Video | Posted by David Larter
Happy Friday, everyone.
The gator Navy is a little different from the rest of the service, mostly because its sailors have to drive around a bunch of bored Marines for months at a time. Unless you’ve been in the gator world it’s hard to know what that’s like. But the sailors of the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard wanted to give you a little taste of gator living.
This retro, late-1980s sounding rap song is the Scoop Deck bored sailor video of the week. Observe:
Bonhomme Richard left out to dry
October 19th, 2010 | Gator Navy Navy Shipyard The Pacific | Posted by David Larter
The amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard is moored on Pier 13 at Naval Base San Diego. Bonhomme Richard is preparing for a nine-month dry-dock planned maintenance availability period. // MCC Joe Kane
The amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard is getting ready for a roughly $41 million overhaul in dry dock. Sailors on board are doubtless ready for a nine-month spell shore-side and ready to revel in the luxuries of living on a berthing barge.
The ship and its Marines returned earlier this year from a rough seven-month deployment to 5th and 7th fleets. Gidget Fuentes reported in April:
Bonhomme Richard and two other amphibious ships of the San Diego-based ready group, dock landing ship Rushmore and transport dock Cleveland, spent more than four months in the Persian Gulf and Horn of Africa regions conducting maritime security operations, and supporting theater security and cooperation exercises, including training in Kuwait, Djibouti and Tiimor-Leste.
A six-day liberty visit to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in mid-March came after 127 consecutive days at sea for the big deck Bonhomme Richard.
Repairs are expected to run through July.