Exercise Saxon Warrior

Exercise Saxon Warrior was a military exercise that took place over and off the coast of Wales between 19 and 26 May 2011. The exercises involved aircraft and warships from Canada, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States, and was overseen by the Royal Navy's Flag Officer Sea Training.

The exercise included 26 separate naval units from UK, US, Spain (ESPS Almirante Juan De Borbon), Germany and Sweden. The USS George H W Bush Carrier Strike Group, which was part of the exercise, comprised George H.W. Bush and her escorts, including the cruiser USS Gettysburg, and the destroyers USS Truxton and USS Mitscher.

Mock missions were carried out in two phases. The first phase was made up of stand-alone scenarios, such as simulated air and sea battles, counter-piracy activities and search and seizure of ships. For example, the VAQ-141 squadron from the US aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush flew training missions for upcoming combat activities over Afghanistan. The second phase was a simulation of future multi-mission warfare, based on earlier activities.

During the exercises, weather was an issue, with rough seas and rain spouts hindering, though not stopping, operations for two days, while on 24 May volcanic ash moving south from Iceland forced a halt to aircraft carrier operations for 24 hours.