While I was performing my duties as a new Conning Officer, a much more interesting exercise was taking place. The Japanese force we had joined was conducting mock operations against the USS GEORGE WASHINGTON carrier strike group. This would hone both forces battle skills and knowledge. The other major factor being tested was the ability to cooperate during wartime conditions. With a U.S. warship operating within the Japanese fleet, we were able to exchange information and capabilities.
The Japanese fleet was somewhat outmatched to begin with. We had no way of combating the air power that the carrier was using. They had a easy time finding and tracking us. That meant the destroyer escorts could pick us off with harpoon missiles long before we had found them. We were able to score some hits on the destroyers though.
Every time we were hit, we would raise our battle standard flag to indicate that we had been killed. At that point we would leave the engagement and imitate going back to base. Having left the engagement, when we returned we were good as new with all weapons and abilities restored for the next round. This would repeat over and over again for different elements of the exercise.
Since most of the operation was simulated, up on the bridge we were left to wonder what was going on until we were told to change our course or put up the battle standard. We could hear jets screaming over head and a few messages from the Japanese ships but that was about it. I would learn what had transpired at the evening intelligence brief.
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