Ha Rick, we keep each other honest.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rickusn
I must say the USN has experimented alot in the last year or two.
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Well, some of that stuff is specifically for exercises, and those exercises are counted as individual ship certifications, or in the case of larger exercises like Neptune Warrior, certifications for deployment for SSG. Other examples include the May 17th deployments of the USS Bataan (LHD 5), USS Taylor (FFG 50), and USS Fort McHenry to the Dutch-led Joint Caribbean Lion 2006 exercise. The Taylor used that exercise as workups for its current deployment in the Persian Gulf.
As for the Mahan, you are right, I knew it was somewhere in the Atlantic because it deployed with the Monterey, USS Mitscher (DDG 57), USS Roosevelt (DDG 80), USS Halyburton (FFG 40), and USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG 58) on October 6th for Neptune Warrior of late Oct. 06, which served as certifications for all of the ships. The Mahan and Monterey did not return, and were expected to meet up with a LSD for a deployment. It appears the Canadian Navy changed events.
The USS Halyburton was actually already deployed when it made Neptune Warrior, it had deployed on June 30th, 2006 with the USS Carney (DDG 64) for a three-month Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) surge deployment, which included exercise UNITAS 2006, a passing exercise with Ecuador, Silent Forces Exercise (SIFOREX) and exercise PANAMAX (Panama Exercise) 2006.
I don't know if SOUTHCOM calls their deployments SSGs officially or not, they release the least information of any command. They do however deploy their vessels like SSGs more than any other command, deploying groups of 3 for tours and forming them up for exercises, although for the most part they operate alone.