Flores said the Swift was able to unload cargo from heavy ships at sea and ferry it 120 miles to shore in about three hours.
Before the Honduras exercise the Swift completed West African Training Cruise- 04, an exercise designed to enhance security cooperation between the United States and participating West African nations. During the exercise 150 sailors and Marines conducted littoral training, including riverine operations and small-boat raids.
Although the decision on whether the Navy will approve the SWIFT is still out to sea, the ship has already impressed the crew.
Price says the ship has won his approval, "This (ship) is just fun, it's state of the art equipment, it goes fast, it looks nice, it is just a great time here."
"Everything we've done thus far has been extremely successful," said Senior Chief Petty Officer Lawrence Naumann, the ship's senior enlister adviser, while explaining the ship's advanced technical and communications capabilities to a tour group.
"The amount of ground that we've covered nautical-miles-wise, the amount of experimentation and exercises that we've participated in is leap and bounds above what the Navy is doing right now. ... The Navy really needs to take a hard look and keep an open mind on this thing."
