Pacific Ocean
The Whidbey Island-class amphibious dock landing ship USS Germantown (LSD 42) conducted a successful joint live-fire exercise with Marines from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) in the Pacific Ocean, June 19.
Sailors and Marines fired over 2,000 rounds from multiple M2A1 Heavy Barrel .50 caliber machine guns while steaming toward Hawaii.
“The integrated crew-swerved weapons shoot honed the skills of the Navy and Marine Corps combat team. This exercise offered valuable training on service-specific tactics, techniques, and procedures,” said 1st Lt. Patrick Murray, weapons platoon commander, Blackfoot Company, 15th MEU. “It also helped bolster camaraderie throughout the ship – from the gun control officer to the Marines and Sailors behind the guns, all hands came together to improve the lethality of this amphibious team.”
USS Germantown is transporting nearly 300 Marines from the 15th MEU based out of Camp Pendleton to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. The Marines will participate in the 29th biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise.
Along with the 15th MEU, the USS Germantown hosts personnel from the 11th MEU, Explosive Ordinance Disposal Mobile Unit 11, Naval Special Warfare, U.S. Coast Guard Port Security Unit 311, and Air Force Special Operations Command.
“It was great to see Sailors and Marines put rounds downrange and doing what we’re supposed to do,” remarked Cmdr. Ken Zilka, commanding officer of the USS Germantown. “I am proud to watch our warfighters demonstrate the operational flexibility of Germantown across the naval service and the Department of Defense as a whole. This crew just continues to show its proficiency as we prepare for our upcoming tasking.”
Germantown is currently underway conducting routine operations in U.S. 3rd Fleet.
Twenty-nine nations, 40 surface ships, three submarines, 14 national land forces, more than 150 aircraft, and 25,000 personnel are participating in RIMPAC in and around the Hawaiian Islands, June 27 to Aug. 1. The world’s largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity while fostering and sustaining cooperative relationships among participants critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world’s oceans. RIMPAC 2024 is the 29th exercise in the series that began in 1971.