Tag Archives: Naval Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center

Surface Warfare Tackles Persistent Problems as More than Half of JOs Say They Don’t Want Command

Surface Warfare Tackles Persistent Problems as More than Half of JOs Say They Don’t Want Command

Lt.j.g. Shamaal Fletcher sends off his surface warfare officer pin into the Norwegian Sea as part of his pinning ceremony aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51), Sept. 20, 2022. US Navy Photo

Over the last year, the Navy surveyed 2,500 officers on the highs and lows of a surface warfare career. The results surprised no one. Read More

SWO Boss Sets Goal for 75 Mission-Capable Surface Warships Ready to Deploy

SWO Boss Sets Goal for 75 Mission-Capable Surface Warships Ready to Deploy

Vice Adm. Roy Kitchener, Commander, Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, speaks with Capt. Wayne P. Liebold, executive officer of the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD-2), during a scheduled visit to the ship on Jan. 5, 2023. US Navy Photo

The Navy has set a new goal to have 75 mission-capable surface ships that are prepared to deploy at any given moment Read More

SWO Boss: Surface Fleet Reforms See Positive Results Five Years After Fatal Collisions

SWO Boss: Surface Fleet Reforms See Positive Results Five Years After Fatal Collisions

Vice Adm. Roy Kitchener, commander, Naval Surface Force, speaks with junior officers at the Mariner Skills Training Center, Pacific (MSTCPAC) on May 6, 2022. US Navy Photo

Surface warfare reforms crafted to improve mariner skills and manage demand for ships are trickling into the fleet five years after two fatal collisions in the Western Pacific forced the Navy to retool how the service trains the surface fleet. Read More

Surface Navy to Kick Off Program to Track, Assess Sailors Combat Skills

Surface Navy to Kick Off Program to Track, Assess Sailors Combat Skills

Fire Controlman (Aegis) Chief Petty Officer Michael Schwemmer (front) and Lt. Nick Marmureanu, an Integrated Air and Missile Defense Warfare Tactics Instructor and the Fire Control Officer assigned to USS Stockdale (DDG 106), conduct Combat Information Center training on April 3, 2021. US Navy Photo

The surface navy community is rolling out a new way to track and assess sailors’ experience and proficiency in combat skills – with the promise that commanders could tailor future training and build better watch bills – through a new Surface Warfare Combat Training Continuum (SWCTC) effort that is wrapping up a pilot program and will hit the fleet this summer. Read More

SWO Boss: Pilot Programs for Training, Manning Will Lead to More Experienced Fleet

SWO Boss: Pilot Programs for Training, Manning Will Lead to More Experienced Fleet

Lt. Aaron Van Driessche, a warfare tactics instructor at the Center for Surface Combat Systems (CSCS), Detachment San Diego, pilots the U.S. Navy’s virtual combat curriculum with Sailors aboard USS Paul Hamilton (DDG 60) inside the newly launched portable simulator, the On Demand Trainer, on Jan. 6, 2020. US Navy photo.

The head of the Navy’s surface force highlighted a handful of new training and manning initiatives meant to get sailors the right training they need to fight and maintain ships, put them in the jobs where that training can be best leveraged, and then continue that cycle of building and applying individual expertise to ultimately boost fleet readiness. Read More

VIDEO: Navy Expanding Use of Virtual Trainers for Surface Ship Crews

VIDEO: Navy Expanding Use of Virtual Trainers for Surface Ship Crews

The crew of USS Benfold (DDG-65) trains in the Combined Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD)/Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Trainer (CIAT) in San Diego, Calif., on March 5, 2020. USNI News photo.

The surface navy continues to expand and evolve its use of virtual trainers, as it looks to train and certify individual sailors and watch teams ashore so they can make best use of their time at sea. Read More

Surface Warfare Training Growing More Complex with Tougher Scenarios

Surface Warfare Training Growing More Complex with Tougher Scenarios

Chief Intelligence Specialist William Buller video records pre-aim calibration (PAC) fire maintenance on MK-45 MOD 4 5-inch 62 caliber lightweight gun aboard USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81) on July 7, 2020. US Navy Photo

The Navy’s plans to create tougher advanced-phase training events for surface ships are made possible by improvements in individual-level training for surface warfare officers and sailors, according to the officers that oversee the spectrum of surface training. Read More

New SWO Boss Eyeing Advanced Warfighting Training, Mainstreaming LCS

New SWO Boss Eyeing Advanced Warfighting Training, Mainstreaming LCS

Vice Adm. Roy Kitchener, Commander, Naval Surface Force U.S. Pacific Fleet, meets with Sailors during a tour of the Amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD 4) on Aug. 13, 2020. Kitchener also evaluated Boxer’s current state of readiness during his visit. US Navy photo.

The new head of the Navy’s surface fleet said his predecessor made major improvements in training and readiness, and he wants to use them as a foundation to improve the tactical side: more advanced warfighting training, more self-sufficient ship crews, and more technology being pushed out to ships and unmanned vessels. Read More