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Navy ships begin anti-submarine warfare exercises
It's not exactly "The Hunt for Red October," but it’s close.
The destroyers USS Donald Cook, USS Mitscher and USS Oscar Austin, and frigate USS Hawes left Norfolk Friday morning to take part in the four-day Smart Search ’04 exercise off the North Carolina Coast
Anti-submarine warfare has not received much attention, at least not publicly, since the end of the cold war and the fall of the Soviet Union.
Exercise leaders say such skills are still crucial in this age of terrorism.
Capt. Tom Abernathy, Commander, Destroyer Squadron 22, said, “The anti-submarine warfare threat, though it has changed, is still a viable one. It's different than the Soviet threat of past years, but it is formidable nonetheless."
While many submarines from the old Soviet fleet are rusting away, Russia continues to build new, advanced, nuclear powered subs.
Iran, North Korea and China also have subs in their fleets; thus, the need for the Navy's surface fleet to know how to find them.
“Where we operate throughout the globe, there are many shallow water areas. There are choke points where we may have to ensure that our forces can get through," said Cdr. Mark Sedlcek, USS Donald Cook.
Sailors say this, or any at-sea training, has great value in keeping crews sharp, especially with force protection concerns related to terrorism.
"If you had that lull time in between deployments, people would lose their edge, lose the training capability, wouldn't be able to pick up on the things as quickly as they need when we actually do deploy, whether it's scheduled or an emergency," believes BM1 Gary Simpson.
URL of this article:
http://www.defencetalk.com/news/publish/article_001775.shtml
It's not exactly "The Hunt for Red October," but it’s close.
The destroyers USS Donald Cook, USS Mitscher and USS Oscar Austin, and frigate USS Hawes left Norfolk Friday morning to take part in the four-day Smart Search ’04 exercise off the North Carolina Coast
Anti-submarine warfare has not received much attention, at least not publicly, since the end of the cold war and the fall of the Soviet Union.
Exercise leaders say such skills are still crucial in this age of terrorism.
Capt. Tom Abernathy, Commander, Destroyer Squadron 22, said, “The anti-submarine warfare threat, though it has changed, is still a viable one. It's different than the Soviet threat of past years, but it is formidable nonetheless."
While many submarines from the old Soviet fleet are rusting away, Russia continues to build new, advanced, nuclear powered subs.
Iran, North Korea and China also have subs in their fleets; thus, the need for the Navy's surface fleet to know how to find them.
“Where we operate throughout the globe, there are many shallow water areas. There are choke points where we may have to ensure that our forces can get through," said Cdr. Mark Sedlcek, USS Donald Cook.
Sailors say this, or any at-sea training, has great value in keeping crews sharp, especially with force protection concerns related to terrorism.
"If you had that lull time in between deployments, people would lose their edge, lose the training capability, wouldn't be able to pick up on the things as quickly as they need when we actually do deploy, whether it's scheduled or an emergency," believes BM1 Gary Simpson.
URL of this article:
http://www.defencetalk.com/news/publish/article_001775.shtml