The San Diego-bound USS Theodore Roosevelt completed a war-fighting exercise Monday in the Bay of Bengal with ships from America’s Japanese and Indian allies.
Malabar 2015, an annual high-end war fighting exercise, featured maritime patrol and reconnaissance operations, surface and anti-submarine warfare, air defense exercises and search-and-seizure operations.
“Every Malabar we really go one notch up, and I think we’ve achieved the same thing this time,” said Indian Navy Rear Adm. SV Bhokare. “We have really achieved a high level of interoperability and I’m sure we will do better next time.”
The four-day exercise also included the guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy, littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth, attack submarine USS Corpus Christi, Japanese destroyer Fuyuzuki, and the Indian guided-missile frigate Betwa, frigate Shivalik, destroyer Ravijay, submarine Sindhuraj and fleet tanker Shakti.
“I think the lessons learned from the interoperability of all of these ships and planes in very close proximity and doing so effectively and safely will be invaluable to all three navies,” said Capt. Craig Clapperton, the Roosevelt’s commanding officer.
The Roosevelt welcomed aboard officers and dignitaries from each nation for a chance to exchange information and observe operations.
