CLAIM: USS Omaha videos were taken on the ship's "Combat Information Center" by "VIPER team"

[Hydra]

I got a little too curious for my own good and I'm wondering if people can either dissuade me from my nonsense or help me out.

The story posted alongside the two USS Omaha videos by Jeremy Corbell is that both were taken from inside the ships Combat Information Center by Visual Intelligence Personnel.

From https://www.extraordinarybeliefs.com/news4/navy-ufo-radar-data

This footage was filmed in the CIC (Combat Information Center) of the USS Omaha on July 15th 2019 in a warning area off San Diego by Visual Intelligence Personnel (VIPER team).

Idly, I searched for any references to the USS Omaha and its CIC before the videos were posted. I discovered that the USS Omaha doesn't seem to have a Combat Information Center.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence-class_littoral_combat_ship

The vessels have an Interior Communications Center that can be curtained off from the rest of bridge instead of the heavily protected Combat Information Center found on other Navy warships.

In February 2012, Secretary Mabus announced that the fifth ship of the class will be named Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10), and the sixth named Omaha (LCS-12).

I was also unable to find any mention of "Visual Intelligence Personnel" at all before the videos were posted. For those wanting to check my methods, I searched key terms "Visual Intelligence Personnel" and "USS Omaha" "Combat Information Center" and restricted the time frame to before the publication of the videos.

My next port of call (ahem) was to look at The Drive article on the July activity.
From https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...us-drones-off-california-over-numerous-nights

As previously reported, two drones, typically described as UAVs or unmanned aerial vehicles throughout the logs, were spotted by the Kidd. The Ship Nautical Or Otherwise Photographic Interpretation and Exploitation team, or "SNOOPIE team," refers to an onboard photographic intelligence team tasked with documenting unknown contacts, events of interest, and other objects of interest on short order.

Mick's pointed out on Twitter before the oddity of having both a "SNOOPIE team" and a "VIPER team". So could the videos released actually be from the USS Kidd, or another ship in that area that did actually have a Combat Information Center? The Omaha was in the same area as those ships, even though The Drive didn't report it being there. There are pictures of it with the USS Russell and the Kidd a few days afterwards in the Eastern Pacific.

From https://www.dvidshub.net/image/5601540/uss-russell-ddg-59

(July 19, 2019) The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Russell (DDG 59), left, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Pinckney (DDG 91), center, and the Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Omaha (LCS 12) travel in formation.

From https://www.dvidshub.net/image/5619587/uss-theodore-roosevelt-cvn-71

(July 25, 2019) The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd (DDG 100), front, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Pinckney (DDG 91), middle, and the Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Omaha (LCS 12) transit the Pacific Ocean. Kidd, Pinckney and Omaha are conducting routine operations in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

Where did the story of a Combat Information Center and VIPER team aboard the Omaha come from?

I did manage to find a single hit for all three keywords before the videos. The USS Omaha, with a Combat Information Center and a Viper team on it, are details in a fictional story published online by the Center for International Maritime Security in December 2019.

From https://cimsec.org/operation-tripolitan/

Omaha and Jackson had each taken aboard two companies of marine infantry and three Viper helicopters. Gabrielle Giffords embarked a team of maintainers for the Vipers, Marine logisticians, and pallets of small arms ammunition and food.

He could see tracers, presumably attempting to engage the Vipers, reaching toward the sky and sometimes crossing his field of view. The ship's Combat Information Center had reestablished communications with the Vipers.

Oh also, the story takes place off of San Diego, another detail in the story attached to the videos.

It wasn't until the ships were underway, leaving San Diego behind at a brisk 40 knots, that Omaha's Commanding Officer, Captain Mark Dewitt, assembled the crew to explain the mission.

Examination of the latitude and longitude of the ship based on the radar video seems to suggest it was much closer to the Los Angeles coastline, although in my estimation that's not a clincher as San Diego is pretty close.

So this is where I need some assistance. Are the details attached to the videos drawn from an entirely fictional story? What is the cause of the mistaken attribution to a "Combat Information Center" and "VIPER team"? Were the videos actually taken on the USS Omaha?

 

[jackfrostvc]

@Hydra

It's just another name for the CIC. As you can see in this walk through of the USS Omaha, he says it's what other ships call the CIC

It's already cued up, watch for about 1 minute


Source: https://youtu.be/hGRdnvqxMWU?t=314

 

[Hydra]

It's just another name for the CIC. As you can see in this walk through of the USS Omaha, he says it's what other ships call the CIC

Thanks for the video! A naval source corroborating that it is officially referred to as an ICC and not a CIC (as it is on "legacy ships") specifically in regards to the Omaha is a good find! The way he describes it seems to match the quote I previously used.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence-class_littoral_combat_ship

The vessels have an Interior Communications Center that can be curtained off from the rest of bridge instead of the heavily protected Combat Information Center found on other Navy warships.

 

[jarlrmai]

The terminology change is likely new enough and obscure enough that even Navy personal would likely still call it the CIC unless it were don't really official report or something.

 

[Scaramanga]

Does anyone have any pics of what these 'Combat Information Centre' rooms look like ? I guess maybe it is all classified, but any such info would give greater context. Are these screens people sit at...or stand at ? Would it even be possible to video such a screen from close up and almost face on, without someone's head getting in the way ? Would any comment from the person monitoring the screen not be MUCH louder than all the background comments...given that the cellphone would be so much closer to them. Yet I do not hear much variation in volume of comments. It would be really useful to know not just the video content but the physical situational context in the room at the time.

 

[jarlrmai]

Does anyone have any pics of what these 'Combat Information Centre' rooms look like ? I guess maybe it is all classified, but any such info would give greater context. Are these screens people sit at...or stand at ? Would it even be possible to video such a screen from close up and almost face on, without someone's head getting in the way ? Would any comment from the person monitoring the screen not be MUCH louder than all the background comments...given that the cellphone would be so much closer to them. Yet I do not hear much variation in volume of comments. It would be really useful to know not just the video content but the physical situational context in the room at the time.

Well you can see the 'CIC' in question somewhat on the video linked above.