COMSUBPAC Announces 2012 Battle Efficiency Award Winners

Training & Education

January 3, 2013

Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet (COMSUBPAC) announced the recipients of the 2012 Battle Efficiency (Battle “E”) award in an official message to the submarine force, Jan. 1.

The Battle “E” is an award of merit presented to the most proficient submarine crew in each squadron and recognizes sustained superior technical performance and continual combat readiness throughout the year. The awards are presented by the commodore of each squadron to the submarine under their command which has demonstrated the highest level of battle readiness during the evaluation year.

“The competition for Battle Efficiency awards was extremely tough. These awards recognize commands which were evaluated during the past year to have attained the highest overall or departmental readiness to carry out their wartime tasks,” said Rear Adm. Frank Caldwell, Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, in the message to the force. “Each crew member of an award winner can be justifiably proud of their contribution to improve Pacific Submarine Force readiness. I am extremely proud of your outstanding performance.”

The Pacific Force Battle “E” winners and their homeports are:

Commander, Submarine Squadron (SUBRON) 1 (Pearl Harbor) – USS Hawaii (SSN 776)
SUBDEVRON 5 (Bangor, Wash.) – USS Jimmy Carter (SSN 23)
SUBRON 7 (Pearl Harbor) – USS Columbus (SSN 762)
SUBRON 11 (San Diego) – USS Jefferson City (SSN 759)
SUBRON 15 (Guam) – USS Buffalo (SSN 715)
SUBRON 17 (Bangor) – USS Maine (SSBN 741) (Blue & Gold)
SUBRON 19 (Bangor) – USS Ohio (SSGN 726) (Blue)
Submarine Tender USS Emory S. Land (AS 39)
Special Category was awarded to floating dry dock Arco (ADRM-5) and the torpedo weapons retriever Swamp Fox (TWR 821), both in San Diego.

Winners of each of the Battle “E” competitive categories were also announced. Those categories are the Engineering Red “E”, Tactical Operations White “T”, Navigation Red and Green “N”, Communications Green “C”, Damage Control Red “DC”, Supply Blue “E”, Deck Seamanship White “D”, Medical Yellow “M”, Deep Submergence White “DS”, Strategic Operations White “S”, Repair Red “R”, Dental Yellow “D” and Weapons Black “W”.

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Naval Today Staff, January 3, 2013; Image: US Navy