USS Freedom Makes Impact during First RIMPAC Appearance
By LT Ed Early

USS FREEDOM, At Sea - The nation's first littoral combat ship, USS Freedom (LCS 1), is making its mark on the international stage while partnering with navies from around the globe during Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2010, the world's largest maritime exercise.

"Freedom's participation in RIMPAC is the culmination of almost a year of training and planning," said Cmdr. Kris Doyle, commanding officer of Freedom's "Blue Crew". "We are excited to be here - RIMPAC is the perfect environment to assess how well we've fleshed out the Littoral Combat Ship concept."

For this year's RIMPAC, the 22nd in the biennial exercise series, Freedom made the trip from its homeport of San Diego in order to test the interoperability of the ship, her Sailors, and the LCS concept with international navies.

In her first two weeks at sea, Freedom integrated into surface action groups with ships from Australia, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Singapore, conducting joint maneuvers and boarding exercises at sea as well as taking part in live-fire exercises at the Pacific Missile Range Facility off Kauai, Hawaii. Additionally, exchange officers from Singapore and Canada embarked Freedom to witness the operation of the LCS platform while underway.

"We are operating in a dynamic environment that exercises all warfare areas and we have the added benefit of teaming with our multi-national counterparts who have experience with littoral missions and lean manning models," Doyle said. Even before Freedom's arrival, the ship had a noticeable effect on RIMPAC, as exercise planners had to account for the shallow draft, unmatched speed and interdiction capabilities of the LCS platform.

The latter attribute was utilized heavily during the first week of RIMPAC's at-sea phase. Freedom's embarked units - the LCS Surface Warfare Mission Package, Maritime Expeditionary Security Squadron (MAREXSECRON) 2 and Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 22 - carried out simulated boardings of the Republic of Singapore stealth multi-role ship RSS Supreme (73) and the Royal Australian Navy landing platform amphibious ship HMAS Kanimbla (L 51), as well as several U.S. Navy vessels. In addition to providing boarding-team insertion and overwatch capability during boardings, Freedom's embarked helicopter - an MH-60S from HSC-22 - made history on July 14, participating in its first SINKEX exercise by firing an AGM-114 Hellfire missile into the ex-USS Monticello (LSD 35).

Freedom's Sailors also did their part ashore, engaging in maritime security exchanges with their Japanese and Korean counterparts as well as damage control and engineering cross-training with Singaporean sailors from Supreme.

"Our participation in RIMPAC is very important - not just to our ship, but to the Navy," said Freedom Damage Controlman (SW/FMF) Senior Chief Craig Cole, who took part in the training with Supreme. "Cross-training with Supreme was a great learning experience for both crews. In witnessing the way they utilize their crash and salvage capabilities, it allowed us to provide good feedback on the differences between the two ships. We were able to compare tactics and procedures so we can learn from each other."

While in port, Freedom also played host to tours by naval officers from 10 nations, as well as Adm. Patrick Walsh, Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet, and Vice Adm. Richard Hunt, Commander, U.S. Third Fleet. For Doyle - who has referred to RIMPAC as her ship's "senior prom, final exam, and commencement exercise, all in one" - Freedom's first major operations with international navies couldn't be going better.

"Freedom, the Blue Crew, and our Mission Package Sailors are hanging tough," Doyle said. "The last two weeks have been a blur as we roll from event to event, and we've got more challenges ahead in the tactical phase, but I couldn't be more proud of what the Sailors have accomplished. From VBSS operations to a Hellfire missile exercise to the everyday care and maintenance of Freedom, our Sailors' hard work has resulted in win after win on the LCS scorecard."

The first ship of the revolutionary LCS program, Freedom is a fast, agile, and maneuverable ship designed to complement the Navy's larger multi-mission surface combatants in select mission areas, including combating submarines, mines, and fastattack craft threats in the littorals.