For the sailors and Marines of the just-deployed USS Kearsarge ready group, their first mission came close to home: pitching in on the Navy’s first fleet battle problem of the year, off the North Carolina coast.
They were testing a part of a major Navy strategic push — it’s called distributed maritime operations, essentially pushing decision-making out closer to the front lines.
This battle problem called on the Little Creek-based Navy Expeditionary Combat Command to take charge of command and control by bringing in its sailors’ experience clearing, securing and setting up bases quickly in often-hostile spots.
