The flagship of Exercise Bold Alligator 2014 (BA14), amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3), was one of the final underway units to return to Naval Station Norfolk, Nov. 10.
BA14 was a two-week, multinational exercise hosted by the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps to strengthen core competencies in the areas of amphibious operations and bilateral command and control.
Capt. David Bossert, commanding officer of Kearsarge, said:
Everyone worked tremendously hard.
All of the task forces planned and executed multiple missions, each of which were successful. It’s been the measure of effectiveness and everyone made it home safely.
This year’s iteration of Bold Alligator focused on crisis response missions to include non-combatant evacuations, theatre security and humanitarian assistance.
Although most amphibious exercises are known for ship to shore transport by sea, aviation also played a key role in the exercise. For the first time, Bold Alligator implemented joint service flight operations outside of regular flight deck certifications.
There was some concern about weather during the course of operations, but every obstacle nature put in place was overcome.
Participants of BA14 included representatives from STRIKFORNATO, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States.
[mappress mapid=”14420″]
Press release, Image: US Navy