WHITE BEACH, Okinawa -- The amphibious dock
landing ship, USS Germantown (LSD 42) returned safely to White Beach, Okinawa
after successfully completing III Marine Expeditionary Force exercise Blue
Chromite 16, Oct. 30, 2015.
The operations were a combined effort that included 1st
Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment attached to the 4th Marine Regiment embarked aboard Germantown. This was the second consecutive year that
Germantown participated in the annual U.S. Marine-led exercise designed to
evaluate various air and ground unit deployment programs and to integrate
adjacent air and logistics combat elements.
Germantown
arrived at White Beach Naval Base on 25 October to embark the Marines as well
as to on-load their mission essential equipment. The on-load continued when Germantown got underway
and recovered nine Amphibious Assault Vehicles in preparation for the upcoming
amphibious assault.
“For many of our Marines, this is either their first time on
a ship or their first time embarking in quite a while,’ said Maj. Parker
Randall, executive officer of the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, a Bellville, Ohio
native. “Blue Chromite is very important to help the Blue-Green team stay
consistent and sharpen our skills.”
With all personnel and gear onboard, the evolutions began
with a series of deck landing qualifications. VM-22 Osprey aircraft from Marine Aircraft
Group 36 conducted underway launch and recoveries on the ship’s flight
deck in order to maintain proficiency and training. Day time and challenging night-flight
operations were conducted as well as aerial assault landings, passenger
transfers and refueling evolutions.
Blue Chromite’s primary training objective was executed the final
day of the exercise off the shores of Okinawa.
Germantown
served as the launch ship for the amphibious and airborne assault, disembarking
the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines and their equipment via Amphibious Assault
Vehicles, two Landing Craft Air Cushion assigned to Naval Beach
Unit 7 and two MAG 36 Ospreys. Once the
beach was secured, the Marine landing force proceeded to seize strongholds held
by a mock enemy provided for by acting forces from the U.S. Marines.
“Germantown is a versatile amphibious
platform and my crew is very proficient at delivering Marines to the shore for
offensive purposes or for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief
operations,” said Cmdr. Gary Harrington, Germantown’s
Commanding Officer. “The purpose of embarking the Marines and doing exercises
like Blue Chromite 16 is to gain proficiency and interoperability to stay
mission-ready. There is no experience
like actually embarking a ship and building a routine at sea to sync and learn
to work together as one team.”
During this scheduled patrol in the 7th Fleet area of responsibility,
Germantown successfully completed several other amphibious exercises,
facilitating ship-to-shore movements of U.S. Marines as well as Marines from partner
nations. Cooperation Afloat Readiness
and Training 15 was conducted from July to September, incorporating a
series of bilateral training evolutions with armed forces from Indonesia, Malaysia
and Thailand. The ship then participated in Amphibious
Landing Exercise PHIBLEX, working with Philippine Navy counterparts to expose
them to expeditionary warfare and integrating U.S. Marines with their Philippine
Marine counterparts and strengthening interoperability with the Armed Forces of
the Philippines.
“From an operational standpoint, it doesn’t get much busier
than this,” said Harrington. “I am very proud of how our crew performed, not
only during Blue Chromite, but during this entire deployment. We integrated
with joint forces and partner nations and executed every exercise and mission
with precision.”
For more information about USS Germantown, visit www.public.navy.mil/surfor/lsd42