Surface Warfare Officers School Command

Department Head Combat Systems

Newport, Rhode Island

02841-5012

REV: 03/98

TITLE: INTRODUCTION TO OPERATIONS SPECIALTY

REFERENCES:

(a) Department Head Training Enabling and Terminal Objectives

INTRODUCTION.

The Specialty Phase of your instruction is intended to focus your attention on matters specific to your assigned responsibilities. It is 51 hours of instruction, seminars, p-works and exercises. As specifically listed in reference (a), the topics will not teach you how to be a successful department head, but they will provide the basic tenets of your Operations Officer duties. All presentations are designed to be interactive and should facilitate as many answers as you have questions. Additionally, there are 6 hours of seminars whose topics include: communications, deck evolutions and general operations. There is no reason you should graduate not having aired questions concerning your ship, assignment or philosophy. Enjoy the last two weeks of class and good luck in your Department Head tour.

There are a wide range of inclusive primary and collateral responsibilities inherent to the Operations Officer. It is important to your relieving process that you ensure the transfer of all associated duties occur within the timeframe of your relief. Do not allow one collateral to go unbriefed. Since ships will tailor responsibilities to the talent and experience available on board, Ops Specialty will not cover all the areas for which you may have responsibilities. You must ensure that you have clear understanding of those areas for which you will be responsible, some of which include:

Primary: Scheduling Officer

Tactical Action Officer

Command Duty Officer

Training Officer

Training Team Leader

Aviation Facility Manager

Warfare Commander

Collateral: Top Secret Control

Secret Control

Senior Watch Officer

Safety Officer

NWPL Custodian

Assistant Security Manager

OPSEC Officer

SORTS/CASREP Officer

The specialty presentations are divided as follows:

Programs: 18 hours

Schedules: 7 hours

Communcations: 3 hours

Message Drafting: 9 hours

Training: 11 hours

The time allocations include time in class for p-works and your schedule presentation to the CO. During any of the formal presentations you are encouraged to ask any questions pertaining to the actual course of instruction. Each presentation is available to you in either information sheets or presentation handouts. This entire phase of training has been provided to you on the ASO/SRT CD-ROM.

Practical works are included in the SORTS. Schedule Drafting , Message Drafting and MOVREP instructions. In addition you will plan and brief a CSTT drill in Evans Hall trainer. Some of the p-works will be worked collectively in class, while others will require independent study. In any case, they are designed for your familiarity and not as a pre-requisite for your assignment as Operations Officer. As such, this is a free trial for you to become acquainted with a program prior to your departure. No grade will be assigned but the instructor will provide as much feed back as you desire.

Similar to the Wardroom Briefing sessions, you will be required to brief your schedule to either a PCO or a Post-CO. Use you ship’s schedule. The class will be divided in equal parts and each student will brief a portion of their schedule. Your particular presentation will not be announced until 1600 of the day prior to the event so to ensure you prepare all phases of the schedule assignment. The following phases are designated for briefing:

Long range schedule

Quarterly schedule

Short Range/ Underway

Fast Cruise

Specific guidance is contained in the practical work assignment sheet.