US Navy ships centered around the Harry S. Truman carrier strike group (HST CSG) got underway on February 1 to start the composite training unit exercise (COMPTUEX), their final pre-deployment exercise.
COMPTUEX is an intensive, month-long drilldesigned to fully integrate units of HST CSG, while testing the strike group’s ability as a whole to carry out sustained combat operations from the sea.
In addition to the strike group’s guided missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG 60) and guided-missile destroyers USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51), USS Bulkeley (DDG 84), USS The Sullivans (DDG 68), USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81), USS Farrragut (DDG 99), USS Jason Dunham (DDG 109), USS Forrest Sherman (DDG 98), the carrier strike group will be joined by Royal Norwegian Navy frigate HNoMS Roald Amundsen (F 311) and the Sachsen-class German frigate FGS Hessen (F 221) for the evolutions.
Hessen is also scheduled to deploy to the Mediterranean Sea together with the group later this year.
Ships, squadrons and staffs will be tested through a variety of simulated and live events, including air warfare, strait transits, and responses to surface and subsurface contacts and electronic attacks.
Completing these assessments effectively certifies Truman as a deployment-ready fighting force capable of commencing missions overseas.
“COMPTUEX tests our ability to combine all units and capabilities within the strike group into a cohesive, multi-mission fighting force that can perform sustained combat operations at sea,” said Rear Adm. Gene Black, HST CSG commander. “Performing this critical evolution now, before deployment, allows our strike group to find out its strengths, but more importantly to pin-point where we can better integrate as a team.”
COMPTUEX is the final stage of pre-deployment workups for the strike group. For USS Harry S. Truman, the evolution caps off more than seven months of training to ensure the ship and crew are ready to deploy.