MEDITERRANEAN SEA - The U.S. 6th Fleet command and control ship USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20), conducted crew-served weapons qualifications for its Sailors, October 11, 2015.

Members of the flagship's Small Craft Action Team (SCAT), qualified on the M-240 machine gun and the M2 .50 caliber machine gun.

Quotes:

"It's important that we have exercises like this to properly gage our SCAT team's ability to perform effectively in high intensity situations. Today's gun qualification lets our Sailors understand what is expected of them in regards to a performance level, and allows them to progress in accuracy as well as level of knowledge." - Fire Controlman 1st Class Jorge Cardona, Weapons Division, Leading Petty Officer

"This type of training prepares my guys for almost anything that will come at them while they are manning their stations, and that is the type of Sailors we need in this day and age. Overall I am really excited, proud, and looking forward to the next opportunity to train our Sailors." - Lt. j.g. Emily Motz, Weapons Officer

Quick Facts:

SCAT is an on-call team and its members are trained to use various crew-served weapons that defend the ship when there is a limited distance to respond. They closely monitor the actions of suspicious vessels and is one of the ship's critical lines of defense and support the fundamentals of maritime security operations.

Sailors are tested on the accuracy on both weapons; firing at a target from a range of 500 to 1000 yards away.

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.

U.S. 6th Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with allied, joint, and interagency partners, in order to advance U.S. national interests and security and stability in Europe and Africa.


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