Congressmen Visit U.S. Naval Submarine Base New London

Representative Joe Courtney of Connecticut and Adam Smith of Washington State and other officials visited the U.S. Naval Submarine Base New London and Electric Boat, June 6.

Smith, House Armed Services Committee (HASC) ranking member, and Courtney, the sole member of the Connecticut congressional delegation to sit on the HASC, toured the various Naval Submarine School trainers. Following their visit, Smith met with a few Sailors from Washington State.

“I can see the excellent investment by the state [of Connecticut] in the Sub base. Our submarine fleet is going to be critical well into the future,” said Smith.

During their tour of the Naval Submarine School trainers, Smith and Courtney visited a variety of trainers, such as the Virginia Ship Control Operations Trainer (VSCOT), which develops operational skills of a submarine’s ship control party by providing realistic and dynamic simulation of a submerged submarine.

“The trainers are truly impressive, especially how we’ve come so close to simulating the environment and making that training even more realistic,” said Smith.

The other two trainers visited during the tour included the Virtual Environment for Submarine Shiphandling and the Submarine Escape Trainer.

“It’s a pleasure to host our elected leaders and provide them an opportunity to witness excellence in action as our instructors work to assure the best possible training of our submarine Sailors,” said Capt. Emil Casciano, commanding officer, Submarine Learning Center, who hosted the trainer visit.

The VESUB is a virtual-reality computer system providing the Officer of the Deck training to successfully and safely pilot and maneuver a surfaced submarine through restricted waterways avoiding collisions and grounding. The Submarine Escape Trainer, completed in 2009, is a realistic and tightly controllable training environment for practicing escapes from sunken and disabled submarines.

“We have training facilities at submarine homeports from Groton to Guam with skilled and dedicated instructors, working with state of the art equipment and world-class facilities to support basic, intermediate and advanced individual and team skills training, to guarantee our Navy’s continuing success and the future of our Nation and our world,” said Casciano.

Toward the end of the tour, Smith met with constituents of Washington state, Electronics Technician 1st Class Michael Morris from Nordlan, Wash., Chief Electronics Technician Benjamin Gardner from Yakima, Wash., and Electronics Technician 2nd Class Ken Kimmel from Puyallup, Wash.
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Source: navy, June 8, 2011;