“We’re starting to recognize the Navantia shipyard workers when they come on board as well. Another large part of FDNF is relationship building. Not only with other navies, but here at home, in Rota, as well. Normally we’ll execute a mid-deployment 10-day maintenance period and it’s a big win for the ship and families to do this in our homeport, ” Hampton says.
Living in Rota, Spain, is great, especially for a young sailor or officer who wants to see the world. “The crew has the opportunity to fly their families to places like Haifa, Crete, Sicily, or Rhodes, Greece and visit the ship while actually on a deployment.”
Sustaining, training and maintaining
“Wherever you put ships, you have to fix and modernize and sustain them,” says Cmdr. Joe Saegert, the officer-in-charge of the Regional Maintenance Center Detachment at Rota.
“At the end of the day, it’s all about the sailors,” says Cigna. “Being stationed in Europe is a wonderful thing, but this is FDNF, and these sailors have to be ready to operate. We’re fortunate to have some absolute rock-star sailors on both ships who are making it happen,” says Cigna.
“Here the ships operate four months on and then they have a four-month training, sustainment, and upkeep period, and then they go back on patrol for four months,” says Saegert. “And this cycle repeats indefinitely.”
The visit, board, search and seizure team assigned to USS Donald Cook (DDG 75) participates in a compliant-boarding exercise Dec. 18, 2014. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Karolina A. Oseguera
And you have to keep crew skills sharp.
“The training, in particular, happens in real time. We call it sustainment,” says Cmdr. Chris Cigna, officer in charge of the DESRON 60 detachment at Rota. “We don’t have a dedicated workup basic phase for the ship before they go out on operational deployment like we do in CONUS. We do it in stride throughout their patrols. We’re finding opportunities to fit in training events to make sure they maintain their certifications and periodicities. And the bottom line is it means these ships are busy. They’ve got a lot to do. It keeps them on top of their game. It keeps them ready all the time. We can’t allow for any of that readiness to atrophy at any time.”
The Navy will add some classroom space and trainers, but Cigna says they will rely heavily on CONUS training facilities, at least for the foreseeable future. “ATG does not have a permanent detachment here, but they can send people here, and that’s working. It all gets back to careful scheduling, to make sure everything is supportable,” Cigna says.
Even though they are not part of a deploying battle group, they still must be certified for deployment by COMSIXTHFLEET. The FDNF DDGs are on a 24-month cycle. At any point during that 24-month period, not to exceed 24 months, a ship can recertify in any mission area.
“At the end of the day, it’s all about the sailors,” says Cigna. “Being stationed in Europe is a wonderful thing, but this is FDNF, and these sailors have to be ready to operate. We’re fortunate to have some absolute rock-star sailors on both ships who are making it happen,” says Cigna. “It’s a joy to have the opportunity to work here and be able to support sailors doing what they need to do.”