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By Naval Submarine Support Center, New London, Public Affairs
GROTON, Conn. – The Navy’s Undersea Warfighting Development Center (UWDC) marked its five-year anniversary Sept. 21, a celebration conducted virtually due to current travel restrictions.
Rear Adm. Richard Seif, current UWDC commander and Pittsburgh native, highlighted the accomplishments of his predecessors who all chimed in to praise the command’s accomplishments and capabilities.
“The Undersea Warfighting Development Center was established to ensure our Navy, as part of the joint force, maintains its asymmetric advantage in the undersea domain,” Seif said. “In this era of great power competition, it’s a privilege to lead such professional civilians and Sailors in their mission to enable the enduring combat readiness and lethality of our undersea forces.”
UWDC also develops doctrine for how multi-domain undersea warfare platforms integrate with each other, referencing last week’s Black Widow exercise in the Atlantic.
“As our premier integrated theater undersea warfare exercise, this year’s Black Widow was also an opportunity to leverage our undersea Aggressor Squadron, charged with emulating potential adversary submarines, in order to provide our warfighters with realistic threats and a deeper understanding of our potential adversaries’ capabilities and tactics,” Seif explained.
Vice Adm. Jeffrey Trussler, UWDC’s 1st commander and current director of naval intelligence at the Pentagon, said he was proud to be a part of the UWDC history.
“Five years later, I am in awe of the work the teams in Groton, San Diego, and Norfolk have done to meld together the strengths, minimize the weaknesses, and make the whole much greater than the sum of its parts,” Trussler said. “UWDC not only survived the first year I was there, but has now gone on to be the major innovator and influence in the U.S. Navy’s dominance undersea!”
Rear Adm. James Pitts, UWDC’s 2nd commander and incoming director of warfare integration on the Chief of Naval Operations staff (OPNAV N91), said that UWDC’s team “constantly challenged conventional wisdom as to the limits, range, capability and endurance of our boats.”
Pitts, who reminisced of Arctic Ice Exercises (ICEX) during his tenure, added that such opportunities “instill unshakeable confidence in our warfighters of the survivability and proven superiority of our submarines.”
The command’s immediate predecessor and Submarine Group 7 commander Rear Adm. Leonard Dollaga called his time at UWDC a privilege “to witness some of the most cutting-edge technologies and combat tactics make their way to the boats.”
“The Sailors and civilians that make up this forward-leaning team are keenly focused on delivering next-generation capabilities to our undersea warfighters - in all warfare domains, realizing that U.S. naval superiority is not guaranteed,” Dollaga said. “Not only did we cover down on U.S. combat superiority, we also engaged with our allies and regional partners in maintaining global undersea superiority.
UWDC, under the direction of Commander, Submarine Forces (COMSUBFOR), leads undersea superiority and enables the combat lethality and desired effects generated from, and within, the Undersea Domain.
| Date Taken: | 09.21.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 09.21.2020 12:56 |
| Story ID: | 378245 |
| Location: | GROTON, CONNECTICUT, US |
| Web Views: | 467 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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