The Secretary of the U.S. Navy (SECNAV) recently announced Guam-based submarine tender USS Frank Cable (AS 40) as the winner of the fiscal year 2016 SECNAV Safety Excellence Award for having the best afloat safety program across the entire Navy.
Under Secretary of the Navy Dr. Janine Davidson presented the award to Frank Cable’s safety officer, Lt. Malia Gonzalez, who received the award on behalf of her ship during a ceremony at the Pentagon Hall of Heroes earlier this month.
“It is a great honor to have our safety team recognized with the SECNAV Safety Excellence Award,” said Capt. Drew St. John, Frank Cable’s commanding officer . “Throughout the year they proactively worked with the Sailors and Military Sealift Command civilian mariners serving on Frank Cable, focusing on education and developing a culture of safety, which has enabled us to execute a demanding schedule while keeping the crew safe. I could not be prouder of all they have achieved.”
Gonzalez led the ship in safety and established a safety culture on board. Her intrusive and instructive safety leadership is actively focused on mishap prevention and deterring newly-reported craftsmen from developing habits that result in work-related injuries. Frank Cable had no on-duty class “A” or class “B” mishaps and no lost man-hours or limited-duty days resulting from on-duty mishaps while completing the mission over the past year.
“Protecting our people and assets by managing risk is paramount,” said Rear Adm. Frederick Roegge, commander, Submarine Force, Pacific Fleet. “Recognition like this shows leadership ability and how well you can work together as a team.”
For her efforts, Gonzalez was selected by the National Safety Council as the winner of their 2016 “Top 40 Under 40” Rising Stars award, beating more than 100 other nominees from every industry throughout the United States.
Over the last year, Frank Cable had a 62 percent reduction in safety mishaps and an 87 percent reduction in safety discrepancies. The ship adhered to all safety requirements and maintained the highest safety standards while executing the mission as evidenced by the completion of seven Continuous Maintenance Availabilities, 55 Voyage Repair Availabilities, 17 Remote-Site Fly-Away Teams tasking, encompassing over 2,965 jobs and totaling over 345,000 production man-hours of quality maintenance aboard submarines and surface ships throughout the Pacific theater.
Frank Cable is one of two forward-deployed submarine tenders and is on a scheduled deployment in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations to conduct maintenance and support deployed U.S. naval force submarines and surface vessels in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.
Also based out of Naval Base Guam are submarine tender USS Emory S. Land (AS 39) and four Los Angeles-class attack submarines assigned to Commander, Submarine Squadron 15. The submarines and tenders are maintained as part of the U.S. Navy’s forward-deployed submarine force and are readily capable of meeting global operational requirements.