Marine Safety International (MSI) reports that the “Gold Crew” of the U.S. Navy’s Navy’s High Speed Vessel SWIFT (HSV-2) completed five days of training at MSI Norfolk on August 5, 2005.
A significant part of the training was 28 hours of simulator exercises using MSI Norfolk’s new High Speed Vessel console. The console features separate ARPA displays for the Navigator and Officer of the Deck positions along with a shared ECDIS (Electronic Chart).
The crew training included a 24 hour Bridge Resource Management course and 16 hours of advanced shiphandling. During the advanced shiphandling phase the crew training focused on high speed choke point transits with high traffic density.
SWIFT has two crews – Gold and Blue – which alternate in manning the vessel. The Gold crew is homeported at the Naval Amphibious Base, Little Creek in Norfolk, VA. The Blue crew is homeported in at the Naval Station, Ingleside, TX.
During its last deployment, SWIFT conducted a high speed transit from Ingleside to Singapore to provide disaster relief in response to the December 2004 South Asian tsunami. The 31-knot open-ocean transit included a one-day crew swap in Pearl Harbor. Relief support operations included high speed cargo transport and over 30 days of continuous helicopter operations in support of USNS MERCY (T-AH 19)