TriSeadon Detachments

Embarked people, mission teams, and aviation support logic by hull class.

Ships Line

Detachment Baseline

This page defines what stays permanently associated with each class, what is mission-assigned, and what should not be described as standing baseline load. The goal is to keep the CAG unique where it should be unique, while treating DDG and FFG special detachments as a shared interchangeable pool selected by deployment.

Planning note: the numbers below are concept-planning baselines. They define scale, role, rank spread, and likely rate mix, but they are not a final Navy manpower document.

Class Baseline Mission Detachments Humanitarian Detachment Back to Ships

Class Baseline

CAG baseline
  • Afloat Medical Center: emergency and urgent care, trauma bay, operating room, surgical recovery, ICU-level support, X-ray, CT, MRI, dental, laboratory, pharmacy, blood storage, short-duration casualty holding, and diver or bends-treatment support.
  • Medical detachment size: 18-20 personnel planning baseline.
  • Medical rank mix: 1 O-4 or O-5 medical department head, 2 O-3 ER surgeons or emergency physicians, 1 O-2 or O-3 anesthesia or critical-care officer, 1 dental officer, 1 senior IDC or LPO at E-7, 1 additional senior HM at E-6, and 12-14 enlisted medical staff in the E-3 to E-5 range.
  • Medical rate mix: primarily `HM` corpsmen with lab, imaging, records, patient-support, trauma-room, and recovery-ward augmentation.
  • QRF size: 32 embarked Marines as the standing quick-reaction package.
  • QRF rank structure: 1 O-2 platoon commander, 1 E-7 platoon sergeant, 3 E-6 squad leaders, 6 E-5 fire-team leaders or weapons leads, and 21 junior Marines in the E-1 to E-4 range.
  • Precision support: 2-4 mission-assigned sniper or marksman personnel when required, normally led by 1 E-6 or E-7 with the remainder E-4 to E-6.
  • Aviation: mixed USMC and USN detachment built around 2 UH-1Y Venoms, 2 AH-1Z Vipers, and 3 mission-configured MH-60R/S helicopters, plus MQ-19 Aerosonde, MQ-27 ScanEagle, RQ-21 Blackjack-compatible, attack, loitering, search, relay, and drone-swarm UAV packages.
  • Enclosed hangar capacity: five hangar bays store the full manned aviation detachment inside: one shared bay for the 2 AH-1Z Vipers, one shared bay for the 2 UH-1Y Venoms, and one dedicated bay for each of the 3 MH-60 helicopters. UAV maintenance, payload preparation, spares, and launch-and-recovery equipment use integrated aviation workshop and support spaces rather than a sixth full hangar.
  • Aviation growth and MV-22 limit: the CAG's expanded flight deck, enclosed hangars, and UAV handling deck reserve growth margin for future VTOL drones and larger unmanned aircraft. It may accept an MV-22 for a limited contingency landing or transfer subject to certification, but Osprey basing, hangaring, and sustained deck operations are outside the baseline.
  • Aviation detachment size: 60-78 personnel planning baseline.
  • Aviation rank mix: 1 O-5 or O-4 detachment lead or air boss, 8 USMC pilots for the 4 Marine helicopters, 6 USN pilots for the 3 MH-60 aircraft, small-UAS operators integrated with DMC, 7 crew chiefs or aircrew chiefs at E-5 to E-7 minimum, 1 USMC maintenance officer, 1 USN maintenance officer, and 36-54 maintainers in the E-3 to E-7 range.
  • Aviation rate and MOS mix: `AD`, `AE`, `AM`, `AT`, `PR`, `AS`, `AO`, fuels and support ratings on the Navy side, plus Marine aviation MOS maintainers for the Viper and Venom package, organized as separate but cooperating USMC and USN detachments.
  • Task-group aviation maintenance: the CAG supports its own mixed-service airframes and compatible helicopters temporarily received from accompanying FFGs, DDGs, or other surface ships. Its expanded shops, maintainers, parts inventory, and handling capacity give the task group greater depth in scheduled maintenance, troubleshooting, avionics and ordnance work, rotor and engine changes, component replacement, repair, and aviation battle-damage recovery.
  • ATC radar and landing-aid layer: close-range air-search and recovery radar support, TACAN, IFF, deck-landing aids, and UAV traffic-management tools are part of the CAG aviation-control baseline because it must sequence multiple helicopters and drones at once.
  • Boat and vehicle support: 2 organic fleet-standard 7-meter RHIBs in independent port and starboard garages plus 1 CAG-only protected TriSeadon Admiral's Launch (TAL), a 16-meter-class RCB/CB90 derivative sized for approximately 20 total occupants. Swift boats, amphibious assault vehicles, additional assault craft, and specialized interdiction boats enter through LCB, IMM, and ISO pathways.
  • Operational use: this package is built for embassy evacuation, embassy reinforcement, hostage recovery, contested-port entry, short-notice crisis response, and SEAL or small-team extraction support.
  • How it operates: the CAG provides the command node, aviation lift, trauma care, and recovery deck; DDG and FFG attachments plug into that package for screening, scouting, access work, and secondary boarding support.
  • Medical movement rule: the CAG medical department handles trauma stabilization, limited surgery, short-duration holding, and medevac coordination, then transfers casualties to rear medical care when the case exceeds the ship's intended treatment window.
  • What is permanent: flagship command support, aviation, QRF, and medical depth.
  • What is not permanent: SEAL, SWCC, EOD, LEDET, or sniper teams beyond the normal planning allowance; those remain mission-assigned.
DDG baseline
  • Medical: standard destroyer sickbay and casualty-stabilization capability.
  • Medical department size: 4-6 personnel planning baseline.
  • Medical rank mix: 1 senior medical representative or IDC at E-6 or E-7 and 3-5 enlisted medical staff at E-3 to E-6.
  • Medical rate mix: primarily `HM` corpsmen.
  • Maritime operations detachment: one mission-based small team for boarding, interdiction, escort, or littoral-response work drawn from the shared DDG/FFG detachment pool.
  • Typical team size: 6-8 personnel.
  • Typical rank mix: 1 E-6 or E-7 team chief, 1 E-5 or E-6 assistant leader or coxswain-grade leader, and 4-6 operators in the E-3 to E-5 range. Add at most 1 O-1 to O-3 officer when the mission needs command depth.
  • Typical rate or specialty mix: mixed package built from VBSS-capable ship security personnel, LEDET members when attached, SWCC-support personnel, coxswain-capable sailors, and mission-trained boarders.
  • Sniper planning allowance: 2-person precision team when mission tasking requires it.
  • Sniper rank mix: typically 1 E-6 spotter-team lead and 1 E-4 to E-6 shooter or observer.
  • ATC role: aviation control and recovery node for escort helicopters and unmanned support, cross-wired into the combat and ship-control architecture.
  • ATC radar and landing-aid layer: escort-scale close-range air-search and recovery radar support, TACAN, IFF, deck-landing aids, and UAV traffic-management tools are part of the DDG aviation-control baseline.
  • Flight deck: 125 ft x 80 ft.
  • Hangar baseline: three enclosed bays provide one dedicated bay for each of the 2 assigned MH-60 helicopters and one dedicated UAV bay for maintenance, payload preparation, launch and recovery equipment, spares, and future VTOL growth.
  • Aviation growth and MV-22 limit: expanded deck, hangar, and UAV handling capacity reserves growth for future VTOL drones and supporting systems. The DDG does not support routine MV-22 operations or basing.
  • Aviation baseline: 2 mission-configured MH-60R/S helicopters plus a mission-selected MQ-19 Aerosonde, MQ-27 ScanEagle, RQ-21 Blackjack-compatible, or follow-on small-UAS detachment.
  • Aviation detachment size: 20-28 personnel planning baseline.
  • Aviation rank mix: 2-4 pilots in the O-2 to O-4 range, 2-4 crew chiefs or aircrew at E-4 to E-7, and 14-20 maintainers in the E-3 to E-7 range.
  • Aviation rate mix: `AD`, `AE`, `AM`, `AT`, `PR`, `AS`, plus fuels or ordnance support functions.
  • Aviation maintenance depth: normal shipboard helo maintenance and sustained-deployment support, but not the larger mixed-service maintenance footprint of the CAG.
  • What is permanent: standard medical support, SAR-first aviation with organic ASW support, and one detachment slot sized to receive interchangeable mission teams.
  • What is not permanent: a standing SEAL platoon, large assault force, or expanded CAG medical-center staff.
FFG baseline
  • Medical: standard frigate sickbay and casualty-stabilization capability.
  • Medical department size: 3-5 personnel planning baseline.
  • Medical rank mix: 1 IDC or senior corpsman at E-6 or E-7 and 2-4 enlisted medical staff at E-3 to E-5.
  • Medical rate mix: primarily `HM` corpsmen.
  • EOD baseline: 2-person EOD detachment as the normal embarked specialty team, also drawn from the shared DDG/FFG detachment pool.
  • EOD rank mix: 1 E-6 or E-7 team lead and 1 E-4 to E-6 technician.
  • EOD specialty mix: EOD-qualified operators, with additional diver, ROV, or unmanned-support skill sets attached when the package grows.
  • Growth rule: EOD can expand to 4 when mine, obstacle-clearance, or special mission demand justifies it.
  • UDT pathway: strongest home for reconnaissance, obstacle-clearance, shallow-water access, and ASW-adjacent littoral support.
  • Aviation: 2 mission-configured MH-60R/S helicopters plus a mission-selected MQ-19 Aerosonde, MQ-27 ScanEagle, RQ-21 Blackjack-compatible, or follow-on small-UAS detachment. ASW deployments normally favor the MH-60R, with UAVs, USVs, and UUVs extending search persistence and geometry.
  • Hangar baseline: two enclosed bays provide one dedicated bay for each of the 2 assigned MH-60 helicopters. UAV maintenance, acoustic or ISR payload preparation, compact storage, and launch-and-recovery equipment use shared aviation workshop and deck-support spaces rather than a third full hangar.
  • Aviation growth and MV-22 limit: expanded deck, hangar, and UAV handling capacity reserves growth for future VTOL drones and supporting systems. The FFG does not support routine MV-22 operations or basing.
  • Aviation detachment size: 18-24 personnel planning baseline.
  • Aviation rank mix: 4 pilots in the O-2 to O-4 range, 2-4 crew chiefs or aircrew at E-4 to E-7, and 12-16 maintainers in the E-3 to E-7 range.
  • Aviation rate mix: `AD`, `AE`, `AM`, `AT`, `PR`, and acoustic or mission-support functions tied to sustained ASW operations.
  • Aviation maintenance depth: standard ASW-focused aviation support, strong in sonar, sonobuoy, and acoustic workflow, but not an assault-air package.
  • ATC radar and landing-aid layer: frigate-scale close-range air-search and recovery radar support, TACAN, IFF, deck-landing aids, and UAV traffic-management tools are part of the FFG aviation-control baseline.
  • What is permanent: standard medical, dual-ASW aviation, and one detachment slot normally filled by a small EOD package.
  • What is not permanent: a standing assault troop package, large VBSS force, or CAG-level medical-center team.

Mission Detachments

These packages are deployment-driven. They should be described as available, assignable, and class-compatible where appropriate, not permanently embarked on every hull. For planning purposes, DDG and FFG should pull from the same interchangeable detachment pool, with the ship's mission deciding which package embarks.

VBSS, LEDET, and maritime interdiction teams
  • Best default host: DDG, but this remains part of the interchangeable DDG/FFG pool.
  • Planning size: 6-8 personnel.
  • Typical rank mix: 1 E-6 or E-7 team chief, 1 E-5 assistant leader, and 4-6 boarders or security operators at E-3 to E-5. Optional 1 O-1 to O-3 officer for expanded law-enforcement or command-heavy packages.
  • Typical rate or specialty mix: mixed package rather than one single rate, combining ship-security qualified sailors, coxswain-capable personnel, LEDET law-enforcement specialists when attached, and mission-trained boarders.
  • Purpose: boarding, interdiction, vessel search, detention support, and security-reaction tasks.
  • Why DDG: enough aviation and combat depth to protect the mission, without tying up the CAG's QRF infrastructure.
  • FFG role: can host these teams when ASW or littoral tasking overlaps with interdiction, using the same shared pool as the DDG.
  • CAG role: can host them when folded into a larger evacuation, embassy-response, or crisis package.
  • Assault use: these teams can board by RHIB, fast boat, helicopter insertion, or mixed approach depending on sea state, threat, and whether the mission is compliant board, opposed seizure, platform recovery, or harbor-interdiction support.
  • Embassy and extraction role: these teams extend the CAG-led QRF model for reinforcement, evacuation control, rooftop or pier recovery, and SEAL or partner-force extraction support.
EOD and UDT teams
  • Best default host: FFG, but this remains part of the interchangeable DDG/FFG pool.
  • Planning size: 2 personnel standard, 4 personnel expanded package.
  • Typical rank mix: 1 E-6 or E-7 team lead, 1-3 E-4 to E-6 technicians or divers.
  • Typical rate or specialty mix: EOD-qualified operators, with additional diver, ROV, or unmanned-support skill sets attached when the package grows.
  • Purpose: mine and obstacle work, underwater reconnaissance, littoral access preparation, and technical render-safe support.
  • Baseline: FFG carries 2 EOD as the standing specialty detachment, with growth to 4.
  • DDG role: can embark EOD support from the same shared pool when needed, even though it is not the preferred steady-state host.
  • CAG role: can receive EOD or UDT support for larger joint operations, but does not need it as a standing detachment.
SWCC and NSW support packages
  • Best default host: DDG for smaller maritime operations, CAG for larger crisis-response or assault support, but the DDG-side package should remain interchangeable with the FFG pool.
  • Planning size: 6-8 personnel on DDG-scale packages, 8-12 on CAG-scale packages.
  • Typical rank mix: 1 officer in the O-1 to O-3 range when the mission needs command depth, 1 E-7 or E-6 team chief, 2-3 E-5 or E-6 craft or assault leaders, and the remaining operators in the E-3 to E-5 range.
  • Typical specialty mix: boat coxswain, mobility, communications, breaching, weapons, and small-team assault skills depending on whether the package is SWCC-heavy, NSW-support heavy, or mixed.
  • Purpose: boat operations, special-insertion support, maritime mobility, and specialized joint tasking.
  • Rule: these are not standing fleet-baseline detachments on every hull.
  • DDG fit: small package for escort, interdiction, or maritime pressure operations.
  • CAG fit: larger support package when combined with QRF, assault aviation, and command spaces.
  • Sea-land-air use: these packages are the connective tissue between the CAG's QRF and the fleet's boats, aircraft, and small-team mobility, enabling opposed boarding, coastal insertion, harbor recovery, and evacuation support.
  • Reinforcement and extraction role: when an embassy, consulate, or isolated team needs help, these detachments bridge from ship to shore and back again while the CAG provides lift, overwatch, command, and trauma support.
Sniper and precision-marksmanship teams
  • Baseline planning allowance: 2-person team.
  • Typical rank mix: 1 E-6 team lead or spotter and 1 E-4 to E-6 shooter or observer.
  • Typical specialty mix: mission-trained precision shooters drawn from the assigned maritime or security detachment rather than a permanently embarked standalone platoon.
  • Best default host: DDG.
  • Other hosts: FFG or CAG when the mission needs precision littoral overwatch, interdiction support, or protected evacuation coverage.
  • Pool rule: sniper teams should be assignable across DDG and FFG from the same interchangeable mission-detachment pool.
  • Rule: these teams are mission-assigned and should stay lightweight.
MANPADS and boat-level air-defense packages
  • Status: mission equipment, not a standing detachment.
  • Ship interface: SCUTUM positions accept a Navy-certified MANPADS firing-station adapter with protected ready-use storage, communications, combat-system cueing, identification controls, and class-specific safe firing sectors.
  • Planning size: 2-4 personnel assigned from the embarked boat, security, or mission detachment.
  • Typical rank mix: 1 E-5 or E-6 small-team lead and 1-3 E-3 to E-5 gunners or security personnel.
  • Typical specialty mix: ship-security, boat, or mission-detachment members trained and certified for the assigned MANPADS package.
  • Purpose: localized defense of boats, temporary littoral staging, or small-team movement under elevated air threat.
  • Use case: high-threat straits, restricted waters, or crisis-response environments where embarked boats or temporary shore positions need a light anti-air measure.
  • Control rule: assigned only when the threat justifies it and integrated into the ship's command-and-control and weapons-safety plan.
  • Mount rule: installing a MANPADS package uses one of the ship's locked SCUTUM positions; it does not consume or change a Cerberus mount.

Humanitarian Detachment

TriSeadon should have a humanitarian-response package separate from warfighting detachments. It does not give every hull CAG-level medical capability; it creates a repeatable emergency-response package that can embark rapidly for evacuation, relief, disaster support, or noncombatant recovery.

Best default host: CAG, because it already carries the strongest medical, command, aviation, boat, and berthing depth.
Planning size: 10-14 personnel as a standard package, with growth above that only for major disasters or large noncombatant evacuation operations.
Typical rank mix: 1 O-4 or O-5 detachment lead, 2-3 O-2 to O-4 medical or planning officers, 1 E-7 senior enlisted coordinator, and 6-9 enlisted specialists in the E-3 to E-6 range.
Typical rate and specialty mix: `HM` corpsmen, logistics specialists, preventive-medicine support, patient-movement coordinators, communications support, interpreters or civil-affairs support, and damage-assessment planners.
Aviation fit: built to work with medevac, utility lift, casualty shuttle, supply drop, and disaster-site reconnaissance.
ISO and IMM support: pairs naturally with medical isolation ISO, disaster-assistance ISO, emergency generator ISO, water-production support, temporary berthing, and command-support modules.
DDG role: can carry a smaller humanitarian liaison or casualty-movement package when operating without a CAG nearby.
FFG role: can carry limited humanitarian support tied to evacuation, local stabilization, diving access, water delivery, or coastal relief support.

Recommended rule: treat the humanitarian detachment as a named package in the program baseline so disaster response, embassy reinforcement, noncombatant evacuation, mass-casualty support, and rear-medical transfer coordination all have a defined people package rather than ad hoc staffing every time.

Detachment Control Rules

Back to Ships | Open Fleet Baseline | Open Expedition Branch