Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet

PEARL HARBOR, HI--As the U.S. and its allies fight the Global War on Terrorism, new naval doctrines have become a reality for seven ships belonging to the Navy’s first Expeditionary Strike Group.

One year after the concept of ESG was envisioned, the ships within the strike group are set to get underway. The historic first ESG deployment is scheduled to be eight-months long. All of the ships participated in numerous training exercises, testing their interoperability and developing their strengths.

The time has come to put the training into practice and enter a new era in naval warfare and USS Greeneville (SSN 772), with the Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS) capability will be a part of it.

According to Rear Adm. Paul Sullivan, Commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, USS Greeneville will be an invaluable asset to the ESG team. “It’s the right ship at the right time. It has the unique ability to carry and deploy ASDS. If you look at all the different types of ships, the submarine is most suited for littoral operations. The submarine and special operations forces are the premiere stealth forces in our military that we can use fight the Global War on Terrorism,” said Sullivan.

Cmdr. Lee Hankins, Greeneville’s commanding officer, and his crew are ready, willing and able to carry out whatever may be in store for them. “We are very excited about our first deployment with the ESG. We are the first attack submarine to deploy with an ESG, and we consider it an honor and a privilege to be out there on the forefront, writing new tactics and doctrine for SSNs in the future, and determining how their role will fit in to the ESG concept.”

As for creating a new operations package, Hankins believes that the combined assets of the ESG are all about speed and strength. “If you look at it in its entirety, we are a 9-1-1 force. Call on us, and we are ready with all of the assets that you would want. We have a submarine with strike capability, as well as ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) capabilities and we can provide that to the Marines who have never really had that before,” said Hankins.

“We have everything we need right now to do everything from Non-combatant Evacuations Operations to Maritime Interception Operations, and all the things necessary to fight the Global War on Terrorism. I think it’s an awesome concept and we are all looking forward to participating,” Hankins added.

Thanks to vastly improved connectivity, much like most people are used to using in the form of chat rooms on the Internet, all of the ESG ships are connected in real-time.

“We are all connected and talking to each other. We can log into a chat room that the strike group has setup for all of the different assets. There’s one for strike, antisubmarine warfare, submarine operations. You’re able to discuss the things you need to do silently, efficiently, quietly, and in real time. This offers us incredible flexibility in our operations. We can conduct a strike without a word ever being said over a radio,” said Hankins.

As for making sure things are all right at home during the deployment, Hankins credits improved connectivity with keeping families in touch with their submariners. “Overall, the families are taking it (the eight-month deployment) well. It’s a family affair and we are all going to get through it together. We have e-mail at sea now and that’s much better than the way it used to be,” Hankins said.

According the submarine’s Chief of the Boat, Machinist’s Mate Master Chief Tim Pew, a Rockfalls, Ill. native, “There’s been more interaction with the wives group and we also have a family support group that helps keep the families informed and busy while we’re away. The wives know the husbands are taken care of, and the husbands know the wives are taken care of. That’s what gives everybody peace of mind.”

Torpedoman’s Mate 2nd Class Timothy Glazner, of Lexington, N.C., who has served aboard Greeneville now for five-years and is making his third deployment, is ready for the challenge. “I don’t really know what to expect but I guess it will be cool. We will have to be strong as a group and keep up really good communications to make the network function.”

What can be expected is a lot of hungry Sailors. More than 140 will be onboard throughout the deployment. Four meals are served, starting with breakfast, then lunch, dinner, and Mid Rats, or midnight rations, served around midnight.

The person in charge of making sure the continuously hungry crew is fed is Chief Mess Specialist Todd Frye, a native of Yuba City, Ca. “We are loading more food to accommodate the crew and we will have well over 5,000 pounds of food in the freezer. We will store about 90 day’s worth of food so we have to use all of our available space,” said Frye.

According to Frye, submariners eat better than Sailors on other ships because of the smaller crew size, which allows those preparing the food to be more creative. One similarity between surface ships and submarines remains.

“Pizza night is the most popular,” said Frye. Still, with Sailors lining up in his galley four times a day, seven days a week, Frye has one objective. “My goal is not to run out of food, that’s the big challenge.”

Expeditionary Strike Group One, which recently completed its final preparations for deployment overseas during a Joint Task Force Exercise off Southern California, deployed to the Western Pacific, Indian Ocean and Middle East on Friday, August 22nd from San Diego.

Commanded by Rear Adm. Robert T. Conway, Jr., Expeditionary Strike Group One includes USS Peleliu (LHA 5), USS Germantown (LSD 42) and USS Ogden (LPD 5), as well as 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable).

It also includes guided missile cruiser USS Port Royal (CG 73), guided missile destroyer USS Decatur (DDG 73), guided missile frigate USS Jarrett (FFG 33) and attack submarine USS Greeneville (SSN 772). Approximately 5,000 Sailors and Marines will deploy as part of Expeditionary Strike Group One.

September 2, 2003

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