The Navy’s current 6th Fleet commander lives with great power competition every day. It’s front and center, as her sailors are operating every day in the same waters, seeing a resurgent Russia modernizing its fleet and pushing out beyond its borders — making its presence known as they operate and exercise often or near the same locations where the US and NATO forces are.
Just completed by the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower is a “Tailored Ship’s Training Availability,” an event capped off by a “Final Evaluation Problem.” This combination of events, put on by Naval Air Forces, Atlantic and the Navy’s Afloat Training Group, tests the ship’s training level to gauge how well each ship, assigned staffs and the air wing are not only trained as a unit, but also their ability to integrate with the strike group.