First East
Coast Cruiser-Destroyer SWATT Exercise
by Naval Surface and Mine
Warfighting Development Center February 8, 2019
Warships from USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) Carrier Strike Group
(CSG) and other Norfolk-based cruiser-destroyer (CRUDES) units
departed Naval Station Norfolk for the first East Coast CRUDES
Surface Warfare Advanced Tactical Training (SWATT) exercise on
November 2, 2018.
SWATT is the Surface Force's premier
advanced tactical training exercise developed and led by Naval
Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center (SMWDC). SWATT
provides multi-ship, multi-platform, multi-warfare area training at
sea to increase combat capability, lethality, and interoperability.
Staffs and units participating in the exercise are Destroyer
Squadron (DESRON) 2, USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55), USS Bainbridge (DDG
96), USS Gonzalez (DDG 66), USS Mason (DDG 87), USS Gravely (DDG
107), and USS Nitze (DDG 94).
November 2, 2018 - The guided-missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55)
departs Naval Station Norfolk. USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) Carrier
Strike Group (CSG) cruiser-destroyer (CRUDES) units are completing
the first East Coast CRUDES Surface Warfare Advanced Tactical
Training (SWATT) exercise. SWATT is led by the Naval Surface and
Mine Warfighting Development Center (SMWDC) and is designed to
increase warfighting proficiency, lethality, and interoperability of
participating units. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication
Specialist 3rd Class Garrett LaBarge)
________________________________________________________________
“The establishment of SMWDC in 2015 represented the beginning of
an important cultural shift in the Surface Fleet to rapidly increase
Surface Force tactical proficiency, readiness, and combat
capability,” said Rear Adm. Dave Welch, commander of SMWDC. “This
first East Coast CSG SWATT represents our commitment to the entirety
of the Surface Force. SWATT provides a critical path for Warfare and
Strike Group commanders to develop the combat capability needed by
our Numbered Fleet Commanders to compete effectively in an era of
Great Power Competition.”
SWATT exercises provide dedicated
in port and at sea training periods particularly focused on the
development of Air Defense and Sea Combat Commanders, ships, and
watch teams. In particularly, SWATTs provide focused training to
support naval Sea Control including integrated air and missile
defense (IAMD), anti-submarine/surface warfare (ASW/SUW), amphibious
warfare (AMW), mine warfare (MIW), and information warfare (IW).
“While our headquarters is located in San Diego, we have
divisions on both coasts and team members in most fleet
concentration areas. We are committed to increasing the combat power
of naval Surface Forces, with focus on warship cohesion. It is a
team-based approach to what a warship is designed to do - fight and
win at sea as part of a Naval Task Group,” said Capt. Joe Cahill,
SMWDC Sea Combat Division Direction and SMWDC’s Air Defense
senior-mentor underway for the exercise. “I am proud of the work our
SMWDC team does to have an immediate and positive impact on the
combat power our warships and warfare commanders bring to the Navy.”
November 4, 2018 - Guided-missile destroyer USS Nitze (DDG 94)
conducts a Mk 45 5" gun shoot as part of Surface Warfare Advanced
Tactical Training (SWATT) exercise. USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72)
Carrier Strike Group (CSG) cruiser-destroyer (CRUDES) units are
completing the first East Coast CRUDES Surface Warfare Advanced
Tactical Training (SWATT) exercise. SWATT is led by the Naval
Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center (SMWDC) and is
designed to increase warfighting proficiency, lethality, and
interoperability of participating units. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass
Communications Specialist Seaman Nikki Custer
_________________________________________________________________
SWATT is specifically designed to be a learning environment
whereby teams receive over-the-shoulder mentoring throughout events,
and where training vice certification or exit criteria are the basis
of success.
Senior, post major-command mentors, Warfare
Tactics Instructors (WTI), and technical community experts, plan
events, brief teams, and embark warships for underway to train and
mentor teams. Those teams lead a formalized Plan, Brief, Execute,
Debrief (PBED) process to develop the training audience during the
underway. After planning and completing a training event, as part of
the PBED process, mentors and WTIs leverage technical community
expertise to provide rapid debrief using replay tools enabling watch
teams to critically assess their own performance and improve. The
most significant benefit to watch teams is they learn from the most
accurate information and develop the critical thinking skills to
continue learning throughout the integrated phase of training and
deployment.
“One of the highlights of my job,” said Lt. Cmdr.
Kris Tester, an Integrated Air and Missile Defense (AIMD) WTI and
lead IAMD planner for the SWATT, “is working with and training USS
Leyte Gulf (CG 55) as the Air and Missile Defense Commander to
harness the combat potential of the Abraham Lincoln CSG CRUDES
assets and watch the Whiskey team transition that capability to
combat power.”
Ultimately, SWATT events provide high-fidelity
system, tactics, and human performance data needed by the surface
warfare community to improve combat power at and from the sea. After
SWATT concludes, data recorded during the events is further
extracted through a partnership between SMWDC and Naval Surface
Warfare Center (NSWC) – Corona. There the data is reviewed in a Data
Analysis Working Group which analyzes system, operator, and tactics
performance. The results are parsed out to appropriate entities
within SMWDC and the surface warfare community to refine doctrine
and tactical guidance, provide capabilities assessments, define
future requirements, and to inform future training events.
SMWDC has four divisions focused on MIW, AMW, IAMD, and ASW/SUW.
SMWDC is a subordinate command of Commander, Naval Surface Forces
and exists to increase the lethality and tactical proficiency of
Surface Force across all domains.
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