An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Truxtun Completes Submarine Overwatch

14 September 2016
Guided-missile destroyer USS Truxtun (DDG 103) successfully finished a vital mission serving as an overwatch for a submarine during their sea trials, Sept. 2.
Guided-missile destroyer USS Truxtun (DDG 103) successfully finished a vital mission serving as an overwatch for a submarine during their sea trials, Sept. 2.

Sea trials test the ability of a vessel to maintain its seaworthiness after being in the shipyard for a significant period. For a submarine, that includes the ability to perform shallow and deep-water dives.

During the submarine's sea trials, Truxtun played a key role by performing an overwatch.

"An overwatch is essentially a ship monitoring a submarine conducting some activity that needs an observer," said Lt. Megan Piotrowski, Truxtun operations officer. "It's kind of like a lifeguard at a pool."

The ship acts as an intermediary between the submarine and provides any help that may be needed.

"Our role was to have communications with them from the beginning and add an extra degree of safety," Piotrowski said. "If something goes wrong, then we can very quickly get a response."

Several lessons learned, along with the submarine community's unwavering commitment to ensuring safety paved the way for many parts of the modern submarine safety program. Today, if a sub experiences a catastrophic event and the crew is able to safely leave the submarine, the overwatch ship will be there.

"The expectation is that, if the crew was forced to abandon the submarine, we would rescue the crew," Piotrowski said.

Truxtun's commanding officer was proud of the job his ship and crew did.

"The crew performed flawlessly in their role," said Cmdr. Joseph Baggett, Truxtun commanding officer. "I am more than happy we were successful when called to help out our submarine brethren. Safety plays an important role in every evolution on every ship in the Navy, and I am glad the crew of the submarine got some peace of mind that we were out here for them."

Truxtun is one of five guided-missile destroyers within Commander, Destroyer Squadron 22 and is underway conducting routine operations and training preparation for an upcoming deployment with the George H.W. Bush Strike Group.

For more information, visit http://www.navy.mil/, http://www.facebook.com/usnavy/ or http://www.twitter.com/usnavy/.

For more information on USS Truxtun (DDG 103), visit http://www.facebook.com/pages/USS-Truxtun-DDG-103/205525892842189/ or http://www.truxtun.navy.mil/.

 

Google Translation Disclaimer

Guidance-Card-Icon Dept-Exclusive-Card-Icon