US Navy Littoral Warship Coronado Departs Singapore for Patrol in Pacific

The US Navy said it will be conducting training operations involving littoral combat ship Coronado and the MH-60S and MQ-8B choppers in the Pacific over the the next week.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US littoral combat ship Coronado left port at Sembawang Wharves in Singapore on May 8 to conduct operations in the Pacific, the US Navy said in a statement on Monday.

"Over the next week, we'll be practicing day and night deck-landing qualifications, vertical replenishments, emergency flight quarters, flight deck fire drills and low visibility recoveries for both the MH-60S and MQ-8B Fire Scout," Coronado Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron Air Boss Lt. Cmdr. Sean Dougherty said.

The Coronado’s aviation unit includes the MH-60 helicopter, an anti-surface warfare and mine countermeasures platform. The MQ-8B is an unmanned helicopter used for intelligence and reconnaissance, and can carry the advanced precision kill weapon system.

The littoral warship is operating in the Navy’s 7th Fleet area of responsibility, the release added. At any given time there are 70-80 ships and submarines, 140 aircraft and approximately 40,000 sailors and marines in the Pacific region.

Since 2013, five littoral combat ships delivered to the Navy have had significant engineering problems that have cut missions short and required returns to port for repairs.