USS Somerset relish joint exercise with Indian Navy

Hyderabad: Crew of the USS Somerset on Saturday said they will always remember their visit to Visakhapatnam and the great experience of the joint exercise with the Indian navy as part of Tiger Triumph.

Tiger Triumph is the largest bilateral military exercise between India and the United States, focused on readiness to deliver effective joint disaster assistance and humanitarian relief in the region, taking place between March 18 -30 off Vizag coast. 

The crew was talking to media on USS Somerset stationed at Visakhapatnam Port. The ship is a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship. Every deck of the ship contains mementos of Flight 93, including a dedicated passageway leading to the Memorial Room, which bears the names of the passengers.

 “Over 1,000 sailors and marines travel in this ship that has a capacity of carrying dozens of military vehicles, a workshop for repair of boats and on the flight deck, aircrafts and helicopters can land and station,” said Ashley Ambuehl, a pilot on the ship.

The USS Somerset has a museum of 9/11 memories. United Airlines Flight 93 was hijacked during the terrorist attacks, but the passengers and crew prevented the plane from reaching its intended target, but it tragically crashed in Stoneycreek Township in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

Somerset is one of three San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ships named in honor of the lives lost on 9/11. “We love the time we spent here in Visakhapatnam with Indian navy personnel. We learnt a lot from them and we had some great memories of playing games with them,” Brnjic, Surface Warfare Officer on Somerset, said.

Tiger TRIUMPH enables US and Indian Armed forces to improve interoperability and bilateral, joint, and service readiness in the Indian Ocean region and beyond to better achieve mutual regional security objectives.