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CNO & MCPON Visit Hawaii to Take Part in Large Scale Exercise 2021 & Meet with Sailors

17 August 2021

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Russell Smith traveled to Hawaii to take part in Large Scale Exercise 2021 and engage with Sailors and Marines in the area, Aug. 13-16.

Commander of U.S. 3rd Fleet Vice Adm. Steve Koehler leads Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday on a tour of 3rd Fleet’s expeditionary maritime operations center at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam during Large-Scale Exercise (LSE) 2021.
SLIDESHOW | images | 210814-N-PP996-1052 PEARL HARBOR (Aug. 14, 2021) Commander of U.S. 3rd Fleet Vice Adm. Steve Koehler leads Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday on a tour of 3rd Fleet’s expeditionary maritime operations center at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam during Large-Scale Exercise (LSE) 2021, Aug. 14, 2021. The now forward-based headquarters continues to perform daily functions of 3rd Fleet while also serving as the fleet’s command and control center in support of the globally-integrated, joint exercise. LSE 2021 demonstrates the Navy’s ability to deploy precise, lethal and overwhelming force globally across three naval component commands, five numbered fleets, and 17 time zones. LSE 2021 merges live and synthetic training capabilities to create an intense, robust training environment. It will connect high-fidelity training and real-world operations, to build knowledge and skills needed in today’s complex, multidomain, and contested environment. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Danny Kelley)
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday, right, speaks with Capt. P. Scott Miller, left, commanding officer of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), during a visit aboard the ship, August 14, 2021. Vinson is participating in Large-Scale Exercise (LSE) 2021.
SLIDESHOW | images | 210814-N-HS181-1478 PACIFIC OCEAN (August 14, 2021) Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday, right, speaks with Capt. P. Scott Miller, left, commanding officer of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), during a visit aboard the ship, August 14, 2021. Vinson is participating in Large-Scale Exercise (LSE) 2021, globally integrated training that demonstrates the U.S. Navy’s ability to deploy precise, lethal, and overwhelming force across three naval component commands, five numbered fleets, and 17 time zones. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Haydn Smith )
KANEOHE BAY, Hi. (Aug. 15, 2021) Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Mike Gilday speaks with Maj. Gen. James W. Bierman during a visit to Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii as part of Large Scale Exercise 2021. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Sarah Villegas/Released)
SLIDESHOW | images | 210815-N-YG104-0009 210815-N-YG104-0009 KANEOHE BAY, Hi. (Aug. 15, 2021) Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Mike Gilday speaks with Maj. Gen. James W. Bierman during a visit to Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii as part of Large Scale Exercise 2021. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Sarah Villegas/Released)
KANEOHE BAY, Hi. (Aug. 15, 2021) Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Mike Gilday speaks with Maj. Gen. James W. Bierman during a visit to Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii as part of Large Scale Exercise 2021. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Sarah Villegas/Released)
SLIDESHOW | images | 210815-N-YG104-0007 210815-N-YG104-0007 KANEOHE BAY, Hi. (Aug. 15, 2021) Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Mike Gilday speaks with Maj. Gen. James W. Bierman during a visit to Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii as part of Large Scale Exercise 2021. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Sarah Villegas/Released)

Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Mike Gilday and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON) Russell Smith traveled to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, August 13-16, to take part in Large Scale Exercise (LSE) 2021 and engage with Sailors and Marines in the area.

“We’re trying to ensure that if we do get into a conflict, we can fight across all regions simultaneously and present some vexing problems to any potential adversary,” Gilday said. “We want to come from many different vectors, not just on the sea, but in the air, under the sea, on the land, in space and in cyberspace. Our Navy fights as a Fleet and that’s what we’re practicing here in LSE 2021.”

The two-week globally integrated exercise, which concluded Monday, involved approximately 25,000 Sailors and Marines, spanned five U.S. numbered fleets, three Marine Expeditionary Forces, and 17 time zones.

“We haven’t exercised at this scale in 40 years and I’m very impressed with the performance of our Fleets,” Gilday said. “This is the way we want to train - not just live forces, but virtual ones that we can tie into our Fleet and have much more robust training against a high-end threat. I’m encouraged about where we’re heading in the future.”

While in Pearl Harbor, CNO and MCPON also flew to USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) and visited the forward-deployed U.S. 3rd Fleet expeditionary Maritime Operations Center to observe how they integrated into the exercise.

“Without a doubt, the warfighting concepts we tested during LSE — distributed maritime operations, expeditionary advanced base operations and logistics in a contested environment — are foundational to how we will fight in the future,” said Gilday. “This exercise leveraged everything we have in the toolkit to present a very formidable threat to anybody that might try to hold our interests at risk.”

CNO and MCPON also visited the Pacific Missile Range Facility to watch LSE21 experimentation events, observed naval integration at Marine Corps Base Kaneohe Bay, and met with Sailors assigned to Cyber Operations-Integrated Planning Elements (CO-IPE).

“Our Sailors truly are our asymmetric advantage against any threat,” Smith said. “Seeing their contribution to LSE 2021 was truly inspiring.”

For more information on LSE 2021, please visit: https://www.Navy.Mil/Resources/Blogs/Detail/Article/2711004/Large-Scale-Exercise/

 

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