The littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) stopped in Subic Bay, on May 4
to resupply and refuel before continuing routine operations in the 7th Fleet
area of responsibility.
This is the first stop in the Philippines for Fort Worth, which is
currently on her maiden 16-month rotational deployment in support of the
Indo-Asia-Pacific Rebalance.
Fort Worth is the second LCS to deploy to 7th Fleet as part of an
initiative to simultaneously deploy up to four LCS in the Indo-Asia-Pacific
region by 2018. The third and fourth LCS deployments are planned in 2016,
providing a simultaneous presence of two ships in the region.
“While this is a brief visit for Fort Worth, the ship will return to the
Philippines later this summer to participate in Cooperation Afloat Readiness and
Training (CARAT) 2015 with the Republic of Philippines Navy,” said Cmdr. Matthew
Kawas, Fort Worth Crew 103 commanding officer. Fort Worth will conduct routine
patrols in the 7th Fleet area of operations before returning to Singapore for
the International Maritime Defense Exhibition and Conference (IMDEX) 2015 just
ahead of the next crew swap in late May.
Throughout the summer and fall, Fort Worth will take part in most of the
2015 CARAT exercise series. In its 21st year, CARAT is an annual, bilateral
exercise series with the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and the armed forces of
nine partner nations including, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia,
Malaysia, the Republic of the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
Timor-Leste.
Fast, agile and mission-focused, littoral combat ships are designed to
operate in near-shore environments and employ modular mission packages that can
be configured for surface warfare, mine countermeasures or anti-submarine
warfare.
Fort Worth will employ the surface warfare (SUW) mission package for her
entire deployment, augmenting her 57mm gun and rolling airframe missile launcher
with two 30mm guns, two 11-meter rigid-hull inflatable boats, and two six-member
maritime security boarding teams. Enhancing the SUW mission package is the
embarked aviation detachment from Helicopter Maritime Squadron (HSM) 35, the
Navy's first composite expeditionary helicopter squadron, which consists of one
MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter and one MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned aircraft system.
The Fire Scout complements the MH-60R by extending the HSM-35's range and
endurance, enhancing maritime domain awareness.