Pacific Submarine Force Announces 2014 Battle “E” Winners

US Navy’s Rear Adm. Phil Sawyer, commander of Submarine Force Pacific Fleet (COMSUBPAC), has announced the winners of the 2014 Battle Efficiency (Battle “E”) competition.

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.

The Battle E competition is conducted annually to strengthen individual command performance, improve overall force readiness, and recognize outstanding performance. The award is a symbol of overall readiness of commands throughout the Pacific Submarine Force, and their ability to carry out assigned wartime tasks.

Based on criteria compiled over a year-long competition, units from each submarine squadron in the Pacific Fleet are recognized, in addition to submarine tenders and special category assets. The awards are presented by the leadership of each squadron or command to the unit under their charge which has demonstrated the highest level of battle readiness during the evaluation year.

The 2014 COMSUBPAC Battle “E” winners, their homeports, and commanding officers are:

– Commander, Submarine Squadron (SUBRON) 1, based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii – the Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Greeneville (SSN 772), commanded during the competition by Cmdr. Martin Muckian and Cmdr. Gabriel Anseeuw.

– Commander, Submarine Development Squadron (SUBDEVRON) 5, based in Bangor, Washington – the lead ship of her class, attack submarine USS Seawolf (SSN 21), commanded during the competition by Cmdr. Broderick Berkhout and Cmdr. Jeff Bierley.

– SUBRON 7, based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii – the Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine USS Columbia (SSN 771), commanded by Cmdr. J. Patrick Friedman.

– SUBRON 11, based in San Diego, California – the Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS San Francisco (SSN 711), commanded by Cmdr. Jeffery Juergens.

– SUBRON 15, based in Guam – the Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Chicago (SSN 721), commanded by Cmdr. Lance Thompson.

– SUBRON 17, based in Bangor, Washington – the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine USS Maine (SSBN 741), whose Blue Crew was commanded by Cmdr. William Johnson, and Gold Crew was commanded by Cmdr. Dale Klein.

– SUBRON 19, based in Bangor, Washington – the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine USS Michigan (SSGN 727) Gold Crew, commanded by Capt. Benjamin Pearson.

– The submarine tender category – USS Frank Cable (AS 40), home-ported in Guam, commanded during the competition by Capt. Pete Hildreth and Capt. Mark Benjamin.

In the Special Category, three units are recognized, to include:

– The auxiliary repair floating dry dock ARCO (ARDM 5), based in San Diego, California, commanded during the competition by Lt. Cmdr. Mike Thompson and Lt. Michael Sims.

– The torpedo weapons retriever Devil Ray (TWR 6) based in San Diego, California, piloted by craftmaster Chief Machinist’s Mate Sam O’Connor.

– Undersea Rescue Command (URC), based in San Diego, California, commanded by Cmdr. Andrew Kimsey.

Press release, Image: US Navy