A Navy cruiser and littoral combat ship ported in San Diego are set for exercises this month aimed to assure that a USS Fort Worth crew is ready for deployment.
Among the tests Feb. 9-20 for the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain and littoral combat ship USS Freedom are surface warfare, air defense, maritime interception operations and mine warfare, the Navy said Friday.
The exercise also includes the guided-missile cruiser USS Chosin and the guided-missile destroyers USS Preble and USS Chafee.
Chosin, Preble and Chafee will conduct their training in the Hawaii operating area, while Lake Champlain and Freedom will take part off the coast of Southern California.
The exercise, or IDCERTEX, will serve as Carrier Strike Group 15’s last chance to evaluate and certify Preble, Chafee and sailors from USS Fort Worth Crew 102, embarked aboard Freedom, across multiple warfare areas before regularly scheduled deployments.
The littoral combat ship Fort Worth, also ported in San Diego, left for a Southeast Asia deployment in mid-November.
IDCERTEX includes training in shipboard firefighting; man-overboard drills; visit, board, search and seizure; and other ship specific training.
“Our primary responsibility is to ensure these ships are certified and ready to execute a wide variety of missions while deployed,” said Rear Adm. Joseph Kuzmick, commander of CSG 15. “We look forward to watching Preble, Chafee and Fort Worth Crew 102 operate in a multiship environment with advanced warfare scenarios.”
In November 2007, an explosion on the Lake Champlain during routine maintenance in San Diego injured six workers, two critically.
