Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Erica Higa | 210911-N-OP825-1099 PACIFIC OCEAN (Sept. 11, 2021) Sailors aboard amphibious assault...... read more read more
SAN FRANCISCO —San Francisco Fleet Week 2021 officially began Sept. 13, as the Navy worked in collaboration with the city of San Francisco to hold this year’s annual Defense Support of Civil Authority (DSCA) exercise.
For 11 years, the DSCA exercise has been the kickoff event for San Francisco’s Fleet Week, a unique opportunity for Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard units to train together with San Francisco city and county agencies in response to local disasters such as earthquakes and wildfires.
“Fleet Week is about building relationships and improving our interagency capabilities,” said retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Mike Myatt, chairman of the San Francisco Fleet Week board. “Earthquakes, wildfires, we’re no strangers to natural disasters in California. The connections we have made and continue to nurture every year during these exercises make each of our agencies stronger.”
Each year the Fleet Week DSCA exercise is focused on a different facet of humanitarian assistance and disaster response, such as debris and emergency route clearing; transportation and logistics strategies; and supply chain resilience. This year’s focus was the management of aviation response and recovery operations, with a catastrophic 7.8 earthquake as the exercise scenario.
U.S. Navy Cmdr. Brian Sauerhage, the DSCA planner for U.S. 3rd Fleet, said that while San Francisco Fleet Week is well known throughout the Navy as a favorite port visit experience for Sailors, the week-long event is much more than that.
“This is also essential training – for the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard, and for the City of San Francisco,” Sauerhage said. “We leverage the assets and people participating in Fleet Week to create a unique platform for vital disaster response training with San Francisco’s local experts. It’s timely and critical training, and that couldn’t be more clear now, as the country continues to feel the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and California faces another destructive wildfire season.”
The exercise brought together people and assets from a myriad of agencies such as the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, Army, the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management, the Port of San Francisco, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the San Francisco Police and Fire departments.
The Navy’s largest participating asset, amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli (LHA 7), will not only be participating in the exercise but will also be making the ship’s maiden port call.
“This has been a rare and welcome opportunity to highlight and practice the unique capabilities that Tripoli possesses, specifically humanitarian aid/disaster relief,” said Tripoli’s Commanding Officer, Capt. Joel B. Lang. “The relationships established with area leaders and emergency management officials are invaluable, and the thrill of a San Francisco port visit, our first ever, makes it unforgettable for the entire crew.”
The weeks of planning and coordination made for a unifying start to this year’s Fleet Week. San Francisco Fleet Week, now in its 40th year, celebrates the rich naval tradition in the Bay area, honors our nation's service members, and facilitates annual disaster preparedness training between the Navy, Marines Corps, Coast Guard and local first responders.
It is San Francisco's largest annual civic sponsored event. It's a free event in the Fisherman's Wharf district that features the Blue Angles, a full air show over the San Francisco Bay, and ship tours all weekend long drawing thousands of people into the city. This year, Fleet Week is Oct. 4 - 11, 2021. Most activities and the large air show are over the weekend of Oct. 8 - 11.
All participants and guests are advised that COVID health mitigation measures are still in effect in the San Francisco Bay Area, and all participating military units will follow DOD, DON, CDC and San Francisco County health orders and guidelines. SFFW events have been modified this year to adhere to those orders and guidelines, and SFFW event producers continue to monitor pandemic projections and are prepared to adjust events accordingly.
For more on San Diego Fleet Week visit Defense Visual Information
Distribution Service at:
https://www.dvidshub.net/feature/SFFW2021
Images are also available on the Navy Region Southwest Facebook page at: at:
https://www.facebook.com/NavyRegionSouthwest/
For more information on San Francisco Fleet Week visit:
www.fleetweeksf.org
| Date Taken: | 09.15.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 09.15.2021 15:53 |
| Story ID: | 405349 |
| Location: | SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 761 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, San Francisco Fleet Week’s annual DSCA Exercise Focuses on Air Coordination, by Brian O'Rourke, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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