North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Allied Command Operations
June 13, 2013
A week of training onboard the USS Mount Whitney wraps up
By Chief Mass Communication Specialist Allison Pittam, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa, Commander, U.S. 6th Fleet Public Affairs
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One of SFN’s missions is to seamlessly integrate U.S. carrier or expeditionary strike groups into a NATO-led operation.
“We learned quite a few lessons from past operations such as Odyssey Dawn and Unified Protector that we folded into this integration exercise,” said Capt. Jack Thomas, SFN, director of operations.
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USS Mount Whitney
While embarked on the command and control ship, USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) in the Baltic Sea, members of Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO (SFN) and U.S. 6th Fleet completed a week of training 7 June 2013 that focused on integrating U.S. forces with NATO.
One of SFN’s missions is to seamlessly integrate U.S. carrier or expeditionary strike groups into a NATO-led operation.
The embark allowed the two staffs to practice how to do that, while also learning the cultural and language differences of the 11 nations that make up SFN.
“We exist to integrate U.S. forces into the wider NATO maritime piece,” said Rear Adm. Tim Lowe, deputy commander SFN. “It is the distinct combination of capabilities that exist aboard Mount Whitney that makes it the optimum strategic location for 6th Fleet and SFN maritime headquarters to be based.”
“Mount Whitney is the command ship for U.S. 6th Fleet commander Vice Adm. Frank Pandolfe, who also commands SFN. The flagship is the first choice for a command and control platform in the event of a SFN maritime operation,” said Craig Linderman, 6th Fleet’s Joint Training Readiness and Exercises division chief.
Linderman explained that the integration training was also an opportunity for the two staffs get to know each other’s capabilities.
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“Working in a multinational environment provides an opportunity to learn and understand each other’s languages, different points of view and experiences. It is the combination of all of these elements that gives us the ability to reach solutions together, making us stronger as one force, rather than individual nations operating separately,” said Rear Adm. Lowe.
For French navy Lt. Cmdr. Julian Glasson, who spent the past 15 years flying maritime patrol aircraft for the French navy, working in a multinational environment on board Mount Whitney was a new experience.
Glasson joined last year to work in the SFN air branch managing air space planning and operations and said that for him, getting to know the people was the most valuable part of the integration training.
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At the close of the training the SFN and 6th Fleet staff gathered together to discuss what they had accomplished during the extended embark on board Mount Whitney.
“We learned quite a few lessons from past operations such as Odyssey Dawn and Unified Protector that we folded into this integration exercise,” said Capt. Jack Thomas, SFN, director of operations.
“Fundamentally, we learned that the effective integration of U.S. and NATO forces requires detailed planning and very close working relationships to achieve the level of teamwork demanded by today’s threat environments,” said Thomas. “We achieved these two things during this evolution. “The US and NATO teams are now better poised to roll up their sleeves together and tackle collective problems successfully.”
Mount Whitney, home-ported in Gaeta, Italy, is the U.S. 6th Fleet flagship and operates with a combined crew of U.S. sailors and MSC civil service mariners. The civil service mariners perform navigation; deck engineering and supply service operations while military personnel aboard support communications, weapons systems and security.
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