Surface Strike Groups (SSG) since inception:
Stout (DDG 55) and Nicholas (FFG 47) 6/03 (Experimental)
Cole (DDG 67) and Gonzalez (DDG 66), and Thorn (DD 988) 11/03
Ramage (DDG 61) ,Ross (DDG 71), and Elrod (FFG 55) 4/04
Taylor (FFG 50) ,O'Bannon (DD 987) and Carney (DDG 64) 12/04
Mahan (DDG 72) ,Mitscher (DDG 57), and Hawes (FFG 53), 5/05
Porter (DDG 78) and Carr (FFG 52) 11/05
Oak Hill (LSD 51), Roosevelt (DDG 80) and Vicksburg (CG 69) 1/06
Trenton (LPD 14) ,Hue City (CG 66) and James E. Williams (DDG 95) 4/06
Barry (DDG 52) and Elrod (FFG 55) 5/06
The Sullivans (DDG 68) and Kaufmann (FFG 59) 11/06
Note: Interestinly enough none of these are from the Pacific Fleet. Im looking into this apparent anomaly.
On LRS&T:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/weapons/RL33745.pdf
http://www.marshall.org/pdf/materials/363.pdf
USS Hopper Supports Ballistic Missile Defense in “Sky Hunter”
On Alert in the Pacific
"As part of the initial deployment of the BMDS, five Pacific Fleet Aegis destroyers, the McCain, Curtis Wilbur, Fitzgerald, Stethem and Paul Hamilton, will have operational LRS&T upgrades installed by the end of this year. There will be a total of 15 LRS&T Aegis destroyers and three Aegis BMD engagement cruisers by the end of 2006. Also in 2006, five Aegis LRS&T destroyers will be upgraded to include the Block 2004 engagement capability. Sea Power 21, the Navy’s strategic plan, envisions a future fleet containing nine missile defense Surface Action Groups."
Heres something new:
STANAVFORLANT - in January of 2005, this became Standing NATO Response Force Maritime Group. (SNMG 1)
COMPOSITION OF THE FORCE as of 01 Jan 2007
USS Mahan Flagship 1 Jan - 15 May 2007 DDG 72
FGS Sachsen 1 Jan - 30 Jun 2007 F 219
The USN ship assigned has been rotated between the 11 non-CORT OHP FFG ships of the USN Atlantic Fleet for all of this decade.
Issue Date: October 27, 2003
‘Plug and play’
New ship formations emphasize flexibility
By David Brown
Times staff writer
Now that you’re used to carrier strike groups and expeditionary strike groups — and even if you’re not — the Navy’s got a new one for you.
Later this fall, when the destroyers Gonzalez, Cole and Thorn push off from Norfolk, Va., they’ll sail east as the Navy’s first surface strike group.
This troika of warships will deploy and operate on its own, but will stay under the operational control of the Enterprise Carrier Strike Group.
Formerly called Middle East Force deployers, late deployers or surface action groups, the new surface strike groups will do traditional destroyer duties: fire Tomahawk cruise missiles, conduct maritime interception operations and provide overall presence, said Capt. Dana Dervay, of the Norfolk-based Fleet Forces Command Future Operations section.
“You may bring them in first before you bring in a carrier strike group or an expeditionary strike group,” he said. “It depends on what type of threat you have.”
In his “Guidance for 2003,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vern Clark directed Navy leaders to start referring to carrier battle groups as carrier strike groups, effective last March. The name change reflected the slimmed-down composition of the groups, which until this summer deployed with a half-dozen warships, the carrier at the center of the group.
The Enterprise, which deployed Oct. 2 and can be considered the first “pure” carrier strike group, left with only two cruisers, a fast combat support ship and an Argentine frigate that — officially — is not considered part of the strike group. According to a breakdown of strike groups provided by Fleet Forces Command, carriers will deploy with three warships from now on.
Other warships that would have traveled with the carrier now are being assigned to either surface strike groups or expeditionary strike groups. The first ESG, led by the amphibious assault ship Peleliu, left San Diego on Aug. 22 and included six ships and one submarine.
Rear Adm. James Stavridis, Enterprise strike group commander, said his group will have the option of linking up with surface strike ships in the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf areas, as well as with Pacific surface ships.
“Now we’re distributing our striking power more evenly,” he said. “When we go to 5th Fleet [in the Persian Gulf region], we’ll be able to plug and play with other surface ships from the West Coast.”
Should greater force be needed, the Enterprise Carrier Strike Group and Peleliu Expeditionary Strike Group could link up and create an expeditionary strike force.
“The overarching term became expeditionary strike force,” Dervay said. “It’s the gold standard of naval forces. If a threat comes up and we need a fairly credible force with tactical aviation and putting boots on the ground, you could combine those two forces and get an ESF.”
Unlike carrier and expeditionary strike groups, surface strike groups will not be identified by a lead ship. Instead, their names will be based on which fleet they’re in and their order in the deployment lineup. The first surface strike group to deploy in the Pacific Fleet, for example, will be called Pac 04-01, followed by Pac 04-02, and so on, to denote the fleet, year and position in the batting order, Dervay said.
He said the surface strike group associated with the Enterprise group will set the bar for follow-on groups. “They’re truly the first of a new generation,” he said. “The ability of that surface strike group to flex and respond to the evolving requirement is unlimited.”
Dervay also understood there’s some head-scratching going on in the fleet as sailors try to match new terms to new concepts. “It doesn’t surprise me [that there’s confusion],” he said. “It’s a huge system and we’re bringing all these pieces together and transforming in a fairly rapid amount of time.”
Now that you’ve got a handle on the names, there’s been yet another change. The name of the Fleet Response Plan — the big initiative under which all ships will deploy — was changed mid-October. It’s now called the Fleet Readiness Plan.
Hey, at least the initials stayed the same.
David Brown covers naval weapons and warfare. Reach him at (703) 750-8633 or by e-mail at
dbrown@navytimes.com.