‘Maintenance issue’ forces U.S. Navy guided-missile cruiser back to port en route to

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‘Maintenance issue’ forces U.S. Navy guided-missile cruiser back to port en route to exercise
By: Defence Blog - 7-8-19
RE: https://defence-blog.com/news/mainte...-exercise.html

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The oldest and most trusted source for news and information about U.S. sailors, The Navy Times has reported that a “maintenance issue” forced the guided-missile cruiser Normandy back into port on 6 July.

The Navy Times‘ has reported that the guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG 60) returned to Naval Station Norfolk on Saturday for repairs, after spending less then 24 hours at sea while prepping for an upcoming Composite Training Unit Exercise or COMPTUEX.

“We can confirm that the USS Normandy pulled back into port on 6 July to troubleshoot a maintenance issue,” 2nd Fleet spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Ashley Hockycko told Navy Times.

Hockycko said that she could not discuss the specific maintenance woes plaguing the warship or how long repairs will take, indicating only that the cruiser “is expected to return” to the exercise “as soon as possible.”

According to a statement released by the U.S. Navy, the USS Normandy guided missile cruiser USS Normandy should have participated in a scheduled composite training unit exercise with Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 8 ships and squadrons, including USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75).

The COMPTUEX exercise is designed to prepare the Navy to respond before departing for deployment. Each ship and aircraft in the battle group trains in its specialty; COMPTUEX brings ships together to project force as a battle group. COMPTUEX is an intermediate-level battle group exercise designed to forge together the battle group and its components into a fully functional fighting team. COMPTUEX is a critical part in the pre-deployment training cycle, and a prerequisite for the battle group’s Joint Task Force Exercise.

Ships, squadrons and staffs expected to be tested across every core warfare area within their mission sets through a variety of simulated and live events, including air warfare, strait transits, and responses to surface and subsurface contacts and electronic attacks.

“I am excited to see what this combined strike group and air wing can accomplish during COMPTUEX,” said Rear Adm. Andrew J. Loiselle, HSTCSG commander. “The Sailors on each ship will be challenged with real-world scenarios combining live and synthetic training. This exercise will test our integrated strength as a multi-mission force. The comprehensive training evolutions are an opportunity to grow as a team, both in our ability to sustain prolonged periods at sea and to find areas where we can improve.”

Through COMPTUEX, HSTCSG will further build competencies to face whatever a carrier strike group could see on its next deployment, and units, which did not deploy in 2018 will certify to deploy. Trainers, mentors and assessors from Carrier Strike Group 4 (CSG 4), the strike group charged with training and mentoring East Coast carrier strike groups, will embark with participating units to provide training through carefully planned, realistic scenarios. Following the exercise, Commander, U.S. 2nd Fleet (C2F) will make a certification recommendation to USFF, based on CSG 4’s assessment.

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Personal note: Is it my imagination or has the USN ships having more and more maintenance issues than normal? It seems new or old they are reporting more and more maintenance failures or issues of late? Are they now so highly electronic that finding the issues and repairing them at sea are impossible to fix? What about redundant backup systems? This is truly upsetting to see this many military issues with recalls and failures of late. Having to come off the line during at sea exercises is disturbing. If you were in an actual battle at sea and couldn't resolve the issues rapidly you and your ship would be a sitting duck!

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