Sailors aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey (DDG 105) conducted visit, board, search, and seizure (VBSS) training with Sailors aboard the Yemeni Coast Guard patrol vessel Sana’a, during International Mine Countermeasures Exercise (IMCMEX), Nov. 8.
IMCMEX, organized and led by U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT)/U.S. 5th Fleet, is the world’s largest naval exercise, included 44 participating nations from six continents, and is an opportunity for more than 6,500 personnel from navies around the world to hone the intricate defensive techniques necessary to search for and dispose of mines.
During the day-long evolution, Dewey Sailors trained the Yemeni Sailors on tactical team movements, exterior and interior clearing, gear familiarization and rigid-hull inflatable boat (RHIB) maneuvering.
Although Dewey is a much larger platform, the training allowed U.S. and Yemeni Sailors to familiarize themselves with different classes of ships.
Electronics Technician 2nd Class John D. Frazier, a VBSS team member, said:
The combination of working on both the Sana’a, a smaller vessel, and the Dewey, a larger ship in comparison, allowed for both teams better understand each other’s ships.
As with any combined training evolution between foreign partners, the language barrier plays a major role in the outcome of the training.
After practicing tactics on the Sana’a, the Sailors moved to the Dewey for more in-depth training.
Press release, Image: US Navy