USS Klakring Returns From EUCOM Pulse

Klakring participated in Joint Warrior along with several other U.S. ships, including USS Mitscher (DDG 57); USS Hawes (FFG 53); and Mayport's own USS Doyle (FFG 39), in a complex multinational, multi-warfare area training event off the northwestern tip of Scotland.

Foreign participation in the event was robust, and included the Royal Navy aircraft carriers HMS Ark Royal and HMS Illustrious; the amphibious assault ships HMS Bulwark, HNLMS Rotterdam, AND HNLMS Johan De Witt, air defense platforms HMS Gloucester and HMS Manchester, the multipurpose frigates HMS Somerset and HMS Argyll, along with four OPFOR submarines from the UK, France, Norway and the Netherlands.

The exercise is designed principally to foster and sustain cooperative relations with multinational partners, and broaden the interoperability and advanced warfare skill sets of all navies involved.

The exercise has grown in recent years into one of the largest and most complex maritime training venues of its kind in the world, and has served for the last several years as a principal training and certification venue for LANTFLT independent deployers.

Klakring's Combat Information Center Officer, Ensign Rachel Gray, spent time on the ship's bridge as well as in CIC during JW 082 and emerged from the exercise with a wealth of knowledge.

"Joint Warrior provided us with the opportunity to participate in real-world scenarios and warfare environments containing many different threats," commented Gray. "It also gave us the opportunity to learn how foreign Navies work to achieve similar goals and accomplish similar missions."

Klakring's Sailors not only gained warfighting experience, but also significant public affairs exposure. Throughout the exercise a series of different media outlets embarked in Klakring and her fellow exercise participants to gain the "embedded" perspective on the war at sea and an appreciation for how the various navies prepared for the fight. Working with these media entities was a challenging and unfamiliar assignment for the ship's collateral duty Public Affairs Officer, Ensign Gray Tompson.

"We learned so much from the SIMPRESS embarks. Just preparing to bring them aboard and thinking through all the aspects of logistics and OPSEC, the messages and themes we wanted to express, the pitfalls to avoid when dealing with international press - it was a tremendous learning environment."

This training crucible stood the ship in good stead as she was tasked to perform Theater Security Cooperation port visits to several Baltic states immediately following the exercise. The media training in Joint Warrior came in handy when dealing with real, credentialed international media, on a large scale, during visits to Helsinki, Finland and Tallinn, Estonia.

"No question about it, the exercise world prepared us for the real world!" noted the ship's Commanding Officer, Cmdr. Ian Pollitt. "We are far better postured for this sort of mission set going forward, for having gone through the Joint Warrior training crucible."

While in Helsinki and Tallinn, Klakring and her crew hosted receptions for foreign military and diplomatic counterparts. Those welcomed onboard Klakring included Barbara Barrett, the U.S. Ambassador to Finland, and Vice Adm. Hans Holstrom, Commander of the Finnish Navy, as well as Mr. Lauri Almann, Permanent Undersecretary of Defense for Estonia and Lieutenant General Aants, Estonian Chief of Defense.

The opportunity to experience foreign cultures was what most Klakring Sailors joined the Navy for, and the ship's participation in JW 082 and the Baltic pulse provided just that. Information Technician Second Class (SW/AW) Gregory Charles, Klakring's Assistant MWR representative, helped organize one such opportunity with an MWR-sponsored excursion to London and Stonehenge during a brief weather divert to Portsmouth, England.

"MWR was excited to give those onboard with the interest, the opportunity to see some truly historic parts of British history." added Charles.

Klakring's crew engaged host nation counterparts in several different sports activities during each visit.

Basketball and soccer were played against members of the Estonian military based in Tallinn and American-style football was played against an Estonian semi-pro team. Klakring was victorious in basketball, but lost hard-fought battles in their other two games.

When asked how the ship could have lost a game of American football while overseas, the CO responded, "When I saw we were going up against a semi-pro team, with a real name, and uniforms, and a web site, and everything, I knew it might be a long day. But Klakring rallied, and to only fall by the score of 18-12 to such a juggernaut speaks volumes for Klakring spirit and can-do attitude!"

Klakring is currently preparing for a comprehensive CMAV in advance of its next deployment.

Armed with the lessons learned from two months of intensive multinational operations, both in port and at sea, her Sailors look forward to continued engagement opportunities on behalf of the forward combatant commanders, and fostering further interoperability with allied naval forces and host nation country teams.