Singapore-stationed USS Coronado gets underway

U.S. Navy’s forward-deployed littoral combat ship USS Coronado (LCS 4) got underway Sembawang Wharves in Singapore for routine operations and training on May 8.

Starting the training with a new crew, Coronado is slated to conduct mission-package workups, including initial ship aviation team training (ISATT), small-boat operations, and visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) evolutions.

ISATT is designed to fully integrate an aviation detachment with the ship’s crew and is an integral component of Coronado’s current underway.

Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 23 Air Boss, Lt. Cmdr. Sean Dougherty, talked about the training events scheduled at sea and how they will help the crew throughout deployment.

“Over the next week, we’ll be practicing day and night deck-landing qualifications, vertical replenishments, emergency flight quarters, flight deck fire drills and low visibility recoveries for both the MH-60S and MQ-8B Fire Scout,” said Dougherty. “The operational capabilities we exercise this week will set the stage for successful flight operations in exercises and operations with regional navies in Southeast Asia throughout this deployment.”

The boat crew aboard Coronado plans to use the twin boom extensible crane (TBEC), exclusive to the LCS2 Variant, to lower the 11-meter rigid-hull inflatable boat used for VBSS and personnel transport.

The underway period follows the completion of an engineering operations certification (EOC) while in port Singapore. EOC measures the proficiency of the engineering department through monitored drills, and evolutions and was administered by a team from Engineering Assessments Pacific (EAP).

Coronado arrived in Singapore in October 2016, marking the first deployment of an Independence-variant littoral combat ship to Southeast Asia and the third overall LCS deployment following USS Freedom (LCS 1) and USS Fort Worth (LCS 3). Operating from Singapore, Coronado has participated in multiple exercises with allied and partner navies across the region during her deployment.