Norfolk, Virginia - About 7,000 Sailors attached to Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 10 departed Naval Station Norfolk Wednesday, June 1, on a regularly-scheduled deployment. The IKE CSG is deploying to relieve the Harry S. Truman Strike Group supporting air strikes against ISIL and conducting maritime security cooperation operations in the U.S. 5th and 6th Fleet areas of operations.
As a part of the Great Green Fleet initiative, IKE CSG ships and aircraft will employ operational procedures and energy conservation measures in order to enhance operational capabilities.
In front of USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) and USS Nitze (DDG 94), Adm. Phil Davidson, Commander U.S. Fleet Forces Command, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Energy) Joe Bryan addressed guests and family members, focusing on the historic nature of the CSG's deployment.
"IKE's employment of innovative new energy operational procedures, new energy efficient systems and alternative fuel put us on a path of improved savings, and more importantly, a more effective fighting force," Davidson said. "From Short-cycle Mission and Recovery Tanking - SMART - and configuration management for our Air Wing onboard IKE, to the stern flaps you see on our destroyers and cruisers, LED lighting, the use of energy dashboards and a thermal management control system in Nitze behind me, our Sailors are incorporating technologies and operational procedures that maximize our fuel usage.
"This enables the Fleet to go farther, stay on station longer, and deliver more sustained firepower while reducing time and vulnerability of Sailors and Marines transporting or escorting fuel to the fight and time off station."
Bryan also highlighted the operational benefits of employing energy efficient procedures and technologies.
"The ships you see behind me, and others in the strike group, may look no different than any other U.S. Navy ship," he said. "And that is the idea. Yet the combination of technologies they include and operational procedures that the fleet is putting in place are helping us squeeze more fight out of every gallon of fuel."
"When he announced the Department of the Navy's energy goals in 2009, Secretary Mabus said 'Leading change is not new for the Department of the Navy. We have led the world in the adoption of new energy strategies in the past. This is our legacy.' Thank you for helping to make it part of our future," Bryan added.
This deployment will also mark the first full work-up cycle involving all strike group ships training and certifying together in accordance with the Optimized Fleet Response Plan (OFRP). OFRP is the Navy's force generation process designed to ready the fleet to fight and win, delivering rotational forces for routine deployments, surging forces in times of war or significant crisis, while enabling maintenance & modernization to achieve the planned service lives of our platforms. OFRP balances fiscal realities and Combatant Commanders requests, while enhancing stability and predictability, and improving quality of life for our Sailors.
CSG 10, commanded by Rear Adm. Jesse A. Wilson, Jr., is comprised of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), the nine squadrons of Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 3, Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 26 staff, the guided missile cruisers USS San Jacinto (CG 56) and USS Monterey (CG 61), and the guided-missile destroyers USS Stout (DDG 55), USS Roosevelt (DDG 80), USS Mason (DDG 87) and USS Nitze (DDG 94).
USS Roosevelt (DDG 80) departed Naval Station Mayport.
USS Stout (DDG 55) departed Naval Station Norfolk May 14.
The squadrons of Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 3 departed bases including NAS Oceana, NAS Whidbey Island, NAS Jacksonville, NAS Lemoore and Naval Station Norfolk. CVW-3 includes strike fighter squadrons VFA 32 "Swordsmen," VFA 86 "Sidewinders," VFA 105 "Gunslingers," and VFA 131 "Wildcats;" tactical electronics warfare squadron VAQ 130 "Zappers;" carrier airborne early warning squadron VAW 123 "Screwtops;" Fleet Logistics Support Squadron (VRC) 40 "Rawhides;" helicopter maritime strike squadron HSM 74 "Swamp Foxes;" and helicopter sea combat squadron HSC 7 "Dusty Dogs."