Photo By Jhon Parsons | With the Channel Islands in the background, U.S. Navy Blue Angels lead solo pilot Lt....... read more read more
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VENTURA COUNTY – Community engagement, memorable events, large scale training exercises, and multi-disciplinary warfighter support marked a historic 2023 at Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC).
The Point Mugu Air Show:
Point Mugu opened its gates to host the installations first Air Show in eight years, exciting crowds with the rare opportunity to witness the top two demonstration teams in the world at the same venue, the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels and the U.S. Air Force Demonstration Squadron, the Thunderbirds, Mar. 17-19, 2023.
"This was a unique Air Show," said Maj. Josh Soltan, U.S. Marine Corps, "Fat Albert" C-130 pilot, The U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels. "This was a the only joint operation show of the season that includes the U.S. Air Force working with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps to bring the services together and represent our mission to the local community. It was an honor to perform for the people of Ventura and hopefully we've inspired the next generation of pilots who will replace us."
Capt. Robert “Barr” Kimnach III, commanding officer, NBVC stated this was a total “mission success.”
“It was an honor to host the Navy-Blue Angels and Air Force Thunderbirds demonstration teams and we are thankful for them and all the performers who gave our great community the “Super Bowl of Air Shows,”” said Kimnach. “Enjoying both teams, celebrating 50-years of women excelling in Naval Aviation and 2-days of sunshine between atmospheric rivers was a true gift for the Ventura, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles communities.”
The opening ceremony included the flight of the first all-women MH- 60S Sea Hawk pilots with the lead, Lt. Zoe McFarlane assigned to the “Merlins” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron Three, flying the National Ensign, followed by the “Seahawks” of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 41. The National Anthem was performed by Musician 3rd Class Taylor Johns, assigned to Navy Band Southwest, and followed with the Blue Angels “Fat Albert” C-130J dropping the U.S. Navy Parachute Demonstration Team “The Leap Frogs” over an excited crowd.
“So grateful to Capt. Kimnach, for his invitation to watch the U.S. Navy Blue Angels at the Point Mugu Airshow!” said Susan Santangelo, Mayor, City of Camarillo. “What a special opportunity to see the Air Force Thunderbirds fly at the same show!”
The Air Show was open to the public and attended by 205,000 civilians, volunteers and military personnel during the three-day event that featured aerial flight demonstrations, the Navy Parachute Demonstration Team “The Leap Frogs,” the “Destroyers” of Navy Band Southwest, over 30-static displays, interactive exhibits, a U.S. Navy Seabee showcase, and a Lt. Dan Band concert with Hollywood actor Gary Sinise.
“It’s an honor to be back at Point Mugu, performing for our military community, family, and friends with my Lt. Dan Band,” said Sinise. “It was a thrill to bring a little “rock n’ roll” following the great lineup of our military’s Top Guns, the Navy-Blue Angels, and the Air Force Thunderbirds.”
Point Mugu is planning to host an air show every 3 to 4 years.
The USS Santa Barbara (LCS 32) Commissioning Ceremony:
In April, the Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Santa Barbara (LCS 32) commissioned onboard Port Hueneme during an open base event that hosted nearly 5,000 visitors.
"Littoral Combat Ships are versatile platforms. A successor in heritage to the escort fleets of the Second World War. They are fast, agile, and mission-tailored to operate in near-shore and open-ocean environments,” said principal speaker Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet. “They are ideal for integrating into joint, combined, manned and unmanned teams to support maritime security operations and humanitarian missions around the globe. Our nation needs this great ship—and most of all, the Sailors and Marines who serve on board.”
Christened on Oct. 16, 2021, USS Santa Barbara departed Austal USA’s Mobile, Al., shipyard in late 2022. After operating up and down the east coast, the ship crossed the Panama Canal before arriving at its homeport Jan. 18.
“The Sailors running aboard and bringing USS Santa Barbara to life during this commissioning ceremony highlights the most important part of a ship – her crew,” said Cmdr. Brian Sparks, Commanding Officer of Santa Barbara. “Our Santa Barbara Sailors are resilient and determined, ready to go over-the-horizon and execute operational tasking. This ceremony is the culmination of all the hard work completed by our Sailors have done to turn this Pre-Commissioning Unit into a United States Ship.”
“USS Santa Barbara, welcome to the Pacific – the locus of America’s future and well-being,” said Paparo.
The Point Mugu Chapel holds services after 9-year hiatus:
In 2023, the Chapel of Faith onboard Point Mugu has resumed regular worship services for the first time since April 20, 2014.
In 2022, Cmdr. Song Hwang, chaplain, NBVC, began announcing the needs for religious support and partnerships on base through community outreach.
“We’ve been listening to the needs of Sailors and their families about providing services at Point Mugu,” said Hwang. “We reached out to local leaders and churches of all-faiths and hosted the first-ever faith group leadership conference at the Seabee Museum. Calvary Chapel of Oxnard accepted our call for action.”
Kimnach noted that base-growth will increase manning personnel and the demand for mission readiness services.
“This is an example of how we are enhancing the use of our existing facilities,” said Kimnach. “Our Chaplain staff is doing a remarkable job with this and setting the example of how NBVC partners with the community.”
The Chapel of Faith was dedicated in 1961 and at the time called the “Chapel of Faith for the Space Age.”
In its early years, the chapel bustled with activity. In 1964, 513 services were conducted in the chapel. Attendance that year totaled 36,569, and there were 37 baptisms, 30 weddings and five funerals. According to Hwang, despite a society-wide drop in church attendance, there is still a high demand for military religious service.
The future of unmanned undersea warfighting begins:
The U.S. Navy held a ceremony to establish Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (UUV) Flotilla Three (UUVFLOT-3) as a subordinate command to UUV Squadron One (UUVRON-1) onboard Port Hueneme, July 7, 2023.
“What we are doing now in support of unmanned vehicles is key to the future success of our great Navy,” said Cmdr. Timothy Rochholz, commander, UUVFLOT-3 in a speech during the ceremony. “We must accomplish the mission our commanders ask of us, deliver Orca to the fleet, ready to fight, as soon as possible—that is our charge.”
UUVFLOT-3 was established to support ORCA XLUUV initial operational testing and evaluation and follow on fielding and employment in support of combatant commander requirements. The U.S. Navy uses a diverse family of remotely operated and autonomous underwater vehicles to enable distributed subsea and seabed warfare. These platforms are outfitted with mission specific payloads capable of delivering scalable effects to include intelligence preparation of the operational environment and offensive mining.
The Orca XLUUV will serve as one of these platforms; it will be the first extra-large vehicle and the largest UUV in the U.S. Navy inventory. Orca will help keep sailors safe by performing complicated undersea mining operations that would otherwise be tasked to a manned submarine. Orca has a long-endurance capability, allowing it to operate autonomously for extended periods in challenging undersea environments.
“The Orca XLUUV will complement our submarines in the undersea domain, while reducing risk to our true asymmetric advantage, our Sailors,” said Capt. Jason Weed, commander, UUVRON-1 in his speech during the ceremony.
Annual large force event:
In August, Point Mugu supported an annual large force event to test and evaluate aircraft and platforms across the Department of Defense. The installation supported over 100-aircraft and dozens of commands conducting warfighter readiness for pilots and crews.
Point Mugu is uniquely situated to support large scale events by providing a basing location, airspace and most importantly, the Point Mugu Sea Range, the largest instrumented Sea Range in the World. The Point Mugu sea range is 36,000 square mile area designated to safely conduct a variety of testing and training events in a realistic yet controlled open-air and open-ocean maritime environment.
Supporting military mission resilience with nature-based solutions:
Two plants that live within the Navy’s operational domain, on California’s Channel Islands and nowhere else on earth – the Santa Cruz Island Dudleya and island bedstraw – have been declared fully recovered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service due to the collaborative efforts of the Navy and conservation partners and no longer require Endangered Species Act protections.
The successful recovery of these two plants adds to the list of species that have now successfully recovered on the islands, including the island fox, peregrine falcon, bald eagle, California brown pelican, and island night lizard.
“The Navy, as co-steward of Santa Cruz Island, is proud to have shared more than 50 years of collaboration with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and partners to improve the habitat and recover these plant species,” said Kimnach. “This announcement is a milestone in our efforts and should be celebrated. The Navy remains committed to our conservation efforts, and to being good stewards of the natural resources we manage as part of our national security mission.”
With the threat of climate change to national security, the military services must now incorporate climate considerations into infrastructure and operations planning, and comprehensively assess and manage risks associated with the impacts of a changing climate.
“Naval Base Ventura County’s work developing nature-based solutions at scale to build resilience, partnering with external stakeholders, is an excellent model of what’s possible for the Department,” said Deborah Loomis, Senior Advisor for Climate Change to the Secretary of the Navy.”
CNO, Adm. Franchetti tours NBVC:
Adm. Lisa Franchetti, Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), the first woman to become the CNO and the first woman on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, toured perspective commands onboard Point Mugu and Port Hueneme in December 2023.
“I joined the Navy for free college, for books, and a chance to be part of a team,” she told Sailors. “It was going to be for four years and then I’d go on and find something else to do. What I stayed for was the team, I stayed for the mission, I stayed for what we get to do for our nation every day as part of great teams.”
Adm. Franchetti toured Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD) Point Mugu and gathered with leaders of Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division (NSWC PHD) at the command’s Underway Replenishment (UNREP) Test Site onboard Port Hueneme.
“I’ve always believed that if you can see it, you can be it, so set your sights high. In today’s military you get to choose your own adventure and make a difference every day by being part of a great team and something bigger than yourself.”
Her advice to those beginning their careers is inspired by Charles Henry Nimitz, who suggested that the best way to be successful in life – and life at sea – is to learn all you can, do your best, and don’t worry about the things you cannot control.
NBVC, located 55 miles northwest of Los Angeles along the Ventura coastline, is a critical Navy asset that allows direct access to restricted air and sea space in the 36,000 square miles of the Point Mugu Sea Range. NBVC is composed of three operating facilities: Point Mugu, Port Hueneme and San Nicolas Island. NBVC is the home of the Pacific Seabees, West Coast E-2D Hawkeyes, 3 warfare centers and 100 tenants.
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| Date Taken: | 01.01.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 01.10.2024 22:09 |
| Story ID: | 461636 |
| Location: | POINT MUGU, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 712 |
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