US Navy outlines amphibious training plans for West Africa

US Navy outlines amphibious training plans for West Africa (NSI News Source Info) November 1, 2008: The US Navy's (USN's) amphibious transport dock, USS Nashville, is scheduled to arrive in the Gulf of Guinea in January 2009 to support the Africa Partnership Station (APS) on a five-month tour of duty. APS is an initiative led by US Naval Forces Europe (NFE) under the auspices of the newly operational theatre command, AFRICOM, to promote maritime safety and security in West African states. Nashville will be the second small deck amphibious vessel to join APS following the deployment of USS Fort McHenry in late 2007. However, the mission of the ship will be very different to its predecessor as it will provide advanced training in a select number of countries. Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon and Gabon will host the 17,244-ton Austin-class ship, which has onboard training teams available to give lessons in basic seamanship, small boat handling, VBSS (visit, board, search and seizure) techniques, search and rescue, data management and how to run an operations centre. While in the Gulf of Guinea, Nashville will send a Landing Craft Unit to Liberia with Seabees (USN construction battalions) and Marine Corps training teams on board to facilitate training and development, although Nashville itself will not visit. Image: USS Nashville will deploy to the Gulf of Guinea in January 2009 for five months on Africa Partnership Station duties (USN)