Practicing Damage Control in Exercise Phoenix Express

By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class (SW) Edward Vasquez, Navy Public Affairs Support Element - East Det. Europe

May 21, 2010 - SOUDA BAY, Greece (NNS) -- Teams from eight ships came together to participate in damage control training as a part of exercise Phoenix Express 2010 (PE10) at Marathi Pier in Souda Bay, Greece, May 19.

U.S. and multinational Sailors all gathered aboard the Italian ship Comandante Foscari (P-493) to participate in shipboard damage control training.

"We only have 70 people on board which isn't a lot of people to fight a fire," said Italian navy Lt. Boccalde Micooli, engineering assistant aboard Foscari. "We are showing our equipment and seeing equipment that the other navies present, while demonstrating our techniques and getting a feel for their techniques."

The goals of this exercise are to increase participating countries' knowledge and experience in the event of any problems that may arise during the exercise, and to help all of the participants to gain an understanding of the damage control principles used by partner navies.

"I think this exercise is very important because sailors need to be conscious of damage control," said Spanish navy Ensign Julia Rial, damage control officer for the Spanish ship Infanta Elena (F-33). "To see what other navies do and what other equipment those navies have is very good."

This exercise is enabling participants to advance information sharing which is crucial to maintaining a region free from transnational threats, and enhances the ability to conduct multinational peacekeeping missions.

"It's good to see all of the different navies coming together, watching them do their damage control and showing them ours," said Lt. j. g. Kimberly Koss, damage control assistant aboard USS John L. Hall (FFG 32). "We have done a lot of training with other foreign navies and we pretty much all have the same concepts, the same basic ensembles and the same firefighting equipment."

Twenty countries are expected to participate in the exercise as either an active participant or observer. U.S. units participating in PE 10 include John L. Hall, home ported in Mayport, Fla.; the USS Gunston Hall (LSD 44), homeported in Virginia Beach, Va.; Military Sealift Command ships USNS LCPL Roy M. Wheat (T-AK3 016) and USNS Laramie (T-AO 203); and members of the U.S. 6th Fleet staff.