NUWC Employees Recognized for Submarine Training Innovation

A group of employees at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport have been recognized for their work in developing a virtual schoolhouse for the training of U.S. Navy submariners.

Capt. David A. Roberts is the commanding officer of the Submarine Learning Center in Groton, Conn., and this week, he delivered letters of appreciation and commendation to the 14 employees at NUWC for their efforts in developing the new tools that continue the expansion of the use of virtual technology to train fleet Sailors.

“Virtual world [learning] is very important to the future of the Navy,” said Roberts. “This is a critical piece to bring in that technology.”

In remarks, Roberts noted NUWC Newports’ “critical collaborative role in developing and testing the use of virtual technologies” and stressed the need for employing innovative concepts, software and hardware to increase training efficiency while reducing costs.

Eight of the NUWC team members received SLC letters of appreciation and six got SLC letters of commendation. Eleven of the 14 were members of NUWC’s Undersea Warfare Combat Systems Department and three were from the Sensors and Sonar Systems Department.

Each employee was specifically recognized for their work in software development, analysis, hardware procurement support, project management, testing and other key elements of the two-year-long project.

Capt. Howard S. Goldman, commander of NUWC Newport, spoke during the ceremony of his experiences in the submarine training community. Goldman took command of NUWC Newport in November 2014 following a tour in command of Naval Submarine Training Center Pacific Pearl Harbor (NSTCP) with additional duties as commanding officer Naval Submarine Training Center Pacific (NSTCP) Detachment Guam.

“Thank you for all your hard work and for being the smart people you are,” said Goldman. “The Navy needs this and anything we can do to make [training] more efficient.”

NUWC Newport’s technical director Mary Wohlgemuth congratulated the team for its ability to collaborate with many other Navy organizations in bringing virtual technology to the Navy training enterprise.

“This project required a lot of ingenuity,” said Wohlgemuth. “It involved 10 different commands across the Navy. It’s pretty impressive for the people of Newport to be part of this team.”

NUWC is a shore command of the U.S. Navy within the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), which engineers, builds and supports America’s fleet of ships and combat systems.

As the Navy’s premier research, development, test and evaluation, engineering, and fleet support center for submarine warfare systems and other systems associated with the undersea battle space, NUWC is charged with meeting the undersea warfare requirements of the twenty-first century.

NUWC’s two divisions in Newport and Keyport, Wash., work together to fulfill NUWC’s mission to operate the Navy’s full-spectrum research, development, test and evaluation, engineering, and fleet support center for submarines, autonomous underwater systems, and offensive and defensive weapon systems associated with undersea warfare and related areas of homeland security and national defense.

Photo caption: NUWC Newport employees were honored by the Commanding Officer (CO) of the Submarine Learning Center (SLC): Front Row L-R Steven Aguiar, Shelley McInnis, Karen Ephraim, Elise Augustine. Back Row L- R: Mary Wohlgemuth NUWC Newport Technical Director, ETCS William R. Daly (SLC), Concepcion Vazquez, Diana Nolan, Capt. Howard S. Goldman, Commander NUWC Newport, Christian Correa, Helen Wright, Daniel Kennedy, Jr. , Anh Nguyen, Tom Wohlgemuth (SLC), Capt. David A. Roberts, CO, Submarine Learning Center.