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The third iteration of the Multinational Underwater Repair Engagement (MURENG) took place from 11-22 September 2023 at Naval Base Guam consisting of four nations, six units, and eighty-six divers. What started as a bilateral engagement between Underwater Construction Team TWO (UCT TWO), from Naval Base Ventura County, and the Republic of Korea Underwater Construction Team (ROK UCT) in 2021 drastically expanded this year. After soliciting participation during last year’s annual ABCANZ (Australia, Britain, Canada, America, and New Zealand) Diving Conference, New Zealand and Australia joined with dive teams for this year’s iteration. The Thirtieth Naval Construction Regiment (30 NCR) based out of Naval Base Guam is the sponsor for the engagement that included UCT TWO, Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit ONE (MDSU ONE), U.S. Army 86th Engineer Dive Detachment, ROK UCT, Royal New Zealand Navy Divers, and Royal Australian Navy Clearance Divers. Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit FIVE (EODMU 5) and the Naval Base Guam Dive Locker both based out of Naval Base Guam provided logistics support for the exercise.
The intent of MURENG is to exercise interoperability and exchange engineering and underwater construction Tactics Techniques and Procedures (TTPs) in support of Expeditionary Port Damage Repair and Opening (ExPDRO). The engagement employed a wide array of TTPs including land and underwater demolition, deep water surface supplied diving, SCUBA diving, underwater hydraulic tools, and underwater welding, while simultaneously completing long awaited underwater repairs and inspections of key Naval Base Guam maritime facilities. The divers installed anodes to provide cathodic protection to one of Naval Base Guam’s submarine berths in order to extend the life expectancy of the infrastructure. Inspections were completed and anodes were replaced on 17 fleet moorings providing vessels the ability to safely moor within the harbor both during extreme weather events and during the execution of operational requirements. Throughout the engagement, the units intermixed dive sides with representatives from each of the countries and conducted complex diving operations up to 160 feet of seawater practicing both in water and surface decompression techniques.
30 NCR Commodore, Capt. Dean Allen stated during his opening remarks, “This is the first time we’ve been able to assemble this many Partner Nation dive capabilities at a single exercise and it’s important that we continue to build upon the relationships that we establish here to strengthen our combined capabilities. These conversations and engagements need to occur more often than just once a year at MURENG.” The ability to execute ExPDRO operations is an essential element in the support of fleet maneuver and the ability to maintain sea lines of communication during both competition and conflict.
The goal is for MURNENG to continue as an annual multinational ExPDRO engagement with an emphasis on completing repairs and assessments of critical marine facilities throughout the Indo-Pacific Command Area of Operations while simultaneously building partner nation capacity.
| Date Taken: | 09.29.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 10.03.2023 19:56 |
| Story ID: | 455076 |
| Location: | NAVAL BASE GUAM, GU |
| Web Views: | 143 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, MULTINATIONAL UNDERWATER REPAIR ENGAGEMENT ATTRACTS 86 DIVERS FROM FOUR COUNTRIES, by LCDR Tyler Anderson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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