SAN DIEGO – A 2000 Cape Central High School graduate and Cape Girardeau, Missouri, native is currently an instructor for the U.S. Navy training sailors in operating the technologically advanced Littoral Combat Ship (LCS).
Chief Petty Officer Michelle Rose (Bryan) Hammacher has been an instructor at the LCS Training Facility (LTF) since April 2016. The LTF, the first surface warfare training facility to provide integrated bridge and combat systems tactical scenario training for sailors serving on board an LCS, is operated by the Center for Surface Combat Systems’ (CSCS) learning site Fleet Anti-Submarine Warfare Training Center (FLEASWTRACEN) in San Diego.
“I love the fact that our training is very life-like,” Hammacher said.
Hammacher teaches a five-week crew certification course and a four-week capstone course that focus on sailors learning to use their consoles and learning their watch station responsibilities in order for deployment certification.
“Sailors serving in the LCS environment demand a higher quantity and quality of training,” explained Capt. Brandon Bryan, FLEASWTRACEN’s commanding officer. “LCS class ships drive a new approach to individual, team, and unit-level training to accommodate the minimum manning and rotational crewing concepts. This new approach drives the need for the shore-centric Train-to-Qualify (T2Q) and Train-to-Certify (T2C) concepts, which rely heavily on high-fidelity shore-based trainers. Our simulators integrate LCS command and control, propulsion control, and bridge control systems to support individual training in a team environment at the basic, intermediate and advanced levels.”
Hammacher obtained a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from the University of Phoenix in 2010.
“I joined the Navy to see the world,” Hammacher explained. “My first job was working at a fast food chain. I had a great boss, Virgil Landewee, who taught me the value of a strong work ethic and gave me the opportunity to be a shift manager. My greatest mentors, who taught me more than they will ever know, are my mom and grandma. They have always encouraged me to be independent, confident, and to work hard.”
Before transferring to the LTF, Hammacher served aboard USS Princeton (CG 59) and USS Stockdale (DDG 106) as operations chief. Prior to that, she served aboard USS Russell (DDG 59), USS Halsey (DDG 97) and USS Nimitz (CVN 68).
“At the LTF, we prepare sailors to execute a wide variety of missions around the world,” Bryan said. “They leave our training facility ready to stand their watch and execute the Navy’s mission.”
Hammacher is the daughter of Scott Bryan (deceased) and Verbal Walter, who resides in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
Headquartered in Dahlgren, Virginia, CSCS develops and delivers surface ship combat systems training to achieve surface warfare superiority. CSCS headquarters' staff oversees 14 learning sites and detachments located throughout the continental United States, Hawaii, and Japan and manages and operates a Naval Education and Training Command (NETC) training division in Rota, Spain. CSCS provides over 538 courses, awards 114 different Navy Enlisted Classifications (NECs), and trains over 38,000 sailors a year.
For more information on CSCS, visit https://www.netc.navy.mil/centers/cscs/ or follow CSCS on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Center-for-Surface-Combat-Systems/1480366868885239