The amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu (LHA 5) received the Battle Efficiency Award, March 8.
Commander, Naval Surface Force Pacific announced via naval message the award of the Calendar Year 2012 Battle “E” and Command Excellence Awards for Pacific Fleet. Peleliu competed with amphibious dock landing ship USS Rushmore (LSD 47) and amphibious transport dock ship USS Green Bay (LPD 20), both part of the Amphibious Ready Group (ARG). Only a single ship per squadron may be nominated for this award.
A ship achieves the Battle “E” for sustained superior performance in an operational environment throughout a 12-month cycle in mission areas of maritime warfare, engineering/survivability; command, control, communications and information warfare, logistics management, and ship safety.
“Winning the Battle ‘E’ is the culmination of a year’s worth of hard work and extraordinary effort by the entire crew,” said Capt. John D. Deehr, Peleliu’s commanding officer. “There are literally hundreds upon hundreds of individual requirements that must be met during a year in order to be eligible for the award.”
Amphibious Squadron 3 department heads evaluated the ships of the group for battle readiness and recommended Peleliu for the award due to the ship’s sustained performance.
“Peleliu’s performance in a variety of different warfares was really quite superior,” said Lt. John Judy, Amphibious Squadron 3 submarine operations officer. “The Battle ‘E’ isn’t just about one particular aspect a ship does. It incorporates several different aspects of engineering, of maritime excellence, of communications, of logistics. It really brings in the whole picture of what Peleliu is doing.”
In addition to the Battle “E,” Peleliu earned the Black “E” for Maritime Warfare, the Green “E” for Command, Control, Communications and Information Warfare, the Blue “E” for Logistics Management and the Yellow “E” for Ship Safety.
“I’m really proud of USS Peleliu and the crew’s outstanding accomplishments in 2012,” said Capt. Shawn Lobree, commander, Amphibious Squadron 3. “Hearing the news Peleliu won the 2012 Battle Efficiency award was the best news I’ve had all year. It’s a great honor to earn this distinction. Just to meet all of the wickets and become eligible is a huge challenge in itself. Peleliu earned this recognition after a combination of a year or more of really hard work and outstanding performance across the board.”
Peleliu is the flagship for the Peleliu Amphibious Ready Group and, with the embarked 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, is deployed in support of maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet Area of Responsibility.
[mappress] Naval Today Staff, March 15, 2013