Mobile Training Lab Offers Sailors Key Submarine Navigation Experience

More than 70 Sailors and civilians from 10 submarine commands received hands-on submarine experience using Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Atlantic’s Mobile Training Lab (MTL), June 24-28, onboard Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, Virginia. 

The training opportunity was the first East Coast use of the MTL, which is custom built from a reused shipping container and mimics the setup of a submarine navigation suite.   

The lab can be customized with a submarine’s specific equipment and then transported anywhere to provide training world-wide. The goal is to grow the number over time so more Fleet concentration areas have direct access to them. While the MTL is set up for fast attack boats currently, it can be setup for other configurations as well dependent upon the demand signal and funding. 

“We have wanted to do this for some time. I realized we had an old container not being used, so we set up a navigation space,” said Matthew Daniels, NIWC Atlantic Mobile Navigation Training lead.   

Earlier this year, Daniels and his training team took the lab on the road to Hawaii where they first brought 85 Sailors through training via the MTL in a week.   

“We are finding that there is a variety of experience levels coming through. A few of these Sailors have not had a chance to operate some of this gear, so the MTL becomes a force multiplier in terms of growing Sailor readiness,” said Daniels. 

During the training, the Sailors get an understanding of the systems and the importance of maintaining them while they work through sets of breakdowns on the equipment. They also have the opportunity to investigate and troubleshoot the problems and then physically make repairs. This enhances their readiness for when they get underway.    

“This mobile trainer is a brilliant idea,” said USS Montpellier SSN-765, Electronics Technician (Navigation) 3rd Class Wyatt Cosat from Canyon City, Colorado. “We are in the shipyards now, so it is hard to get hands on the equipment. You can read all the manuals you want, but it doesn’t make up for the hands-on experience. I would definitely recommend this to other commands.” 

Electronics Technician (Navigation) 2nd Class Patrick Powers, a Brookings, South Dakota native assigned to USS Montana (SSN 794), said, “We were able to take apart and put back together a gyro compass, something unheard of on a boat! I love the hands-on training over the classroom. We absolutely need to see more of this.”  

This week's training was at the NIWC Atlantic site but since the MTL can be loaded onto a flatbed and taken directly to the Fleet, the consensus from participants is that they would like to see the lab brought to the pier for a day of training. “An entire division or department could get the same training in one day,” said Electronics Technician (Navigation) 2nd Class James Donahue of USS John Warner (SSN 785), a Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania native. “I would like to do this more than just this time, because you learn something new every time you go through it.”     

While this is only the second use of the mobile trainer, there has been positive feedback from Sailors and civilians who have participated that will shape future iterations of training and how the MTL is used.  

“The feedback we have received from the Sailors after the training state that they have received more training in eight hours in the MTL than from a six to eight-week classroom course,” said Daniels. The MTL team is looking to host a training week in Hampton Roads again in the fall and are targeting one in Guam next spring.   

“We are incredibly proud of the work the team has done,” said Jared Judy, Position, Navigation and Timing Engineering Integrated Product Team Lead. “This work will definitely improve the readiness of submarine crews who attend the training. Former CNO, Admiral Michael Gilday, spoke about being ‘ready to fight tonight.’ The timeliness and success of this training evolution better prepares our Sailors and ultimately the fleet for meeting that intent.” 

To learn more about the MTL or receive information on how to set up training for your team, commands can contact: niwclant_tacnav_isea.fct@us.navy.mil 

 

About NIWC Atlantic 

As a part of Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, formally known as SPAWAR, NIWC Atlantic provides systems engineering and acquisition to deliver information warfare capabilities to the naval, joint and national warfighter through the acquisition, development, integration, production, test, deployment, and sustainment of interoperable command, control, communications, computer, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, cyber and information technology capabilities.