Patrol Squadron One’s combat aircrew one enjoyed a rather unique opportunity recently as they traveled to MCAS Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, to take part in the live-fire exercise, “Patrolling Thunder.”

The exercise was structured around the scuttling of the decommissioned dock landing ship USS Mount Vernon (LSD 39), and took place on June 16 off the northwest coast of the island of Kauai.

The event was hosted by Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing Two and was composed of aircrews, maintainers and ordnancemen from Patrol Squadrons 1,9,46, 47 and Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 10.

“Patrolling Thunder,” which took place on the Pacific Missile Range Facility, provided an opportunity for CAC-1 to fire a live Harpoon missile as well as a live Maverick missile into the hulk of the ex-USS Mount Vernon in an attempt to sink the ship and create an artificial reef.

The USS Mount Vernon (LSD 39) was the fifth ship commissioned in the United States Navy to claim the name, “Mount Vernon.” Its keel was laid in January 1970 and construction was complete in April 1971.

In the ship’s 32-year history, it saw action in the Persian Gulf and in 1989 played an integral part in coordinating the clean up efforts as control ship in the greatly publicized Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, Valdez, Alaska.

By the end of its service Mount Vernon had completed 15 operational deployments with Seventh Fleet in the Far East. The USS Mount Vernon was finally decommissioned in July of 2003.

The Harpoon and Maverick missile systems are the two main forward-firing weapons of choice for the P-3C Orion.

The AGM-84D “Harpoon” is an all-weather, over the horizon, anti-ship missile. The missile was originally developed by Boeing for the Navy to serve as its basic anti-ship missile for fleet wide use.

It was first introduced in 1977 and in 1979 the air launched version was deployed on the Navy’s P-3C Orion aircraft.

The AGM-65 “Maverick” missile built by Raytheon is the most widely used precision-guided missile in production today. First used in Southeast Asia almost 30 years ago, it is included the inventories of over 30 countries and is incorporated on almost every strike aircraft including the P-3.

“Patrolling Thunder” satisfied crew readiness requirements in regards to forward-firing weapon qualifications and the crew’s success was the culmination of hours of detailed planning and numerous video teleconferences between the participants.

“To actually fire a live weapon was a once in a lifetime experience,” remarked Lt. Chris Dudley, tactical coordinator on CAC-1. “We practice these shots hundreds of times in the simulator, but to see one actually come off the wing was quite a sight.”

Monitoring the exercise was the Pacific Missile Range Facility who had a UH-3 helicopter on station to film the numerous missile shots and record valuable battle damage assessment as well as ensuring the safety of all aircraft involved.

That evening the former USS Mount Vernon reached her final resting place a few hundred feet below the surface of the Pacific where she will fulfill a new role in providing habitat to different species of fish and marine life found in the Hawaiian waters.

In the end, the exercise was a huge success with all seven sorties taking off either on time or early, with every piece of ordnance hitting its mark, proving the P-3’s ability to bring varying capabilities to the maritime patrol mission.