Sailors assigned to U.S. 6th Fleet Blue Ridge-class command and control ship USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) participated in a language exchange community relations (COMREL) project to help Croatian mariner students speak nautical terms in English, April 27.

During the COMREL, students asked questions in English about the Navy, various career fields, and American culture.

Mount Whitney Sailors met with the students at the Faculty of Maritime Studies in Rijeka, Croatia.

"I wanted to get my students to talk. During a normal day, we do most of the lessons in Croatian, because we don't have a lot of native English speakers," said Jana Kegalj, a lecturer at Faculty of Maritime Studies.

Kegalj also said the interaction helps because when they go to their actual jobs, they will have to speak in English, because it is unlikely they will be with an all Croatian crew.

More than 30 students attended the COMREL, where Mount Whitney Sailors broke the students into small groups to field questions and to simply converse in English.

"The students like the opportunity to speak English because they don't get the chance very often," said Interior Communications Electrician 1st Class Jennifer Daddario, one of Mount Whitney's COMREL coordinators. "It is also a huge benefit to them and us to talk about our jobs and what we do in the Navy, because many of them will be doing similar jobs."

This is the second time Mount Whitney Sailors have gone to the Faculty of Maritime Studies to provide language support, and many of the Sailor plan to return.

Mount Whitney, forward deployed to Gaeta, Italy, operates with a combined crew of U.S. Navy Sailors and Military Sealift Command civil service mariners. The civil service mariners perform navigation, deck, engineering, and supply service operations, while military personnel support communications, weapons systems, and security. It is one of only two seaborne joint command platforms in the U.S. Navy, both of which are forward deployed.

Mount Whitney is in Croatia for routine repairs and upgrades.

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For more news from Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet, visit http://www.navy.mil/.