2009 Battle "E" Winners
In the first message of the new year (is it pronounced "twenty ten" or "two thousand ten"?) COMSUBPAC announced the winners of the 2009 Battle "E". They are:
CSS 1: USS Charlotte (SSN 766)
CSS 3: USS Key West (SSN 722)
CSDS 5: USS Jimmy Carter (SSN 23)
CSS 7: USS Santa Fe (SSN 763)
CSS 11: USS Topeka (SSN 754)
CSS 15: USS City of Corpus Christi (SSN 705)
CSS 17: USS Kentucky (Blue and Gold) (SSBN 737)
CSS 19: USS Ohio (Blue and Gold) (SSGN 726)
Submarine Tender: USS Frank Cable (AS 40)
Drydock: Arco (ARDM 5)
Special Category: Devil Ray (TWR 6)
Congratulations to the winners, and especially to the repeat winners: Ohio, Frank Cable, Arco, and especially my old boat Topeka for winning her third straight. I note that my old boat Jimmy Carter supplanted my other old boat Connecticut for the CSDS 5 award; it's OK with me if they just swap it back and forth from year to year.
I'll post the SUBLANT winners as soon as I see the message.
Update 2320 02 Jan: Here are the SUBLANT winners:
CSS 2: USS Springfield (SSN 761)
CSS 4: USS New Hampshire (SSN 778)
CSS 6: USS Scranton (SSN 756)
CSS 8: USS Newport News (SSN 750)
CSDS 12: USS San Juan (SSN 751)
CSS 16: USS Georgia (Blue and Gold) (SSGN 729)
CSS 20: USS Maryland (Blue and Gold) (SSBN 738)
Bell-ringer 0835 07 Jan: Corrected the hull designation for USS Maryland. Cut-and-paste can bite you in the butt sometimes.
posted by Bubblehead at 8:28 AM
48 Comments:
Joel probably had a few good COBs!
1/01/2010 10:11 AM
(is it pronounced "twenty ten" or "two thousand ten"?)
Personally, I plan to annoy everybody this year and call it "O-ten."
1/01/2010 10:38 AM
And BZ to Capt. Mark S. of Frank Cable.
1/01/2010 11:03 AM
Based on JC's mission, I doubt there is much competition from anyone else.
1/01/2010 12:57 PM
Mom always said if you can't say anything nice keep your trap shut, but in this case Topeka? WTF?
1/01/2010 3:00 PM
Funny...I feel the same way about the Kentucky
1/01/2010 3:43 PM
"twenty ten" sounds like what I paid for lunch today. I rest my case.
1/01/2010 3:56 PM
If your boat is relatively new (read: clean), then winning the Battle E should be cake.
1/01/2010 5:30 PM
Or Ohio...
1/01/2010 5:32 PM
Santa Fe rules the decade. Four deployments and four Battle E's.
1/01/2010 7:16 PM
Twenty ten. If if weren't for "2001: A Space Odyssey" we never would have thought of saying "two thousand". It's past time time to kick this stupid usage into the garbage.
1/01/2010 9:20 PM
My first underway in 644, a first- class radioman came in the messdecks and announced in a loud voice, "God doesn't have the balls to sink this submarine!" I thought, dang, we're not in Kansas anymore. It's time for a new calendar, one that is uncoupled from obscure and ancient events. The year might as well be four and a half billion and two. Let's say the launching of the TURTLE happened in year one! Just as poignant an event as anyone else has ever dreamed up for marking time.
1/02/2010 6:26 AM
Received this via e-mail from local SUBVETS Commander:
SUBRON 2 USS SPRINGFIELD
SUBRON 4 USS NEW HAMPSHIRE
SUBRON 6 USS SCRANTON
SUBRON 8 USS NEWPORT NEWS
SUBDEVRON 12 USS SAN
SUBRON 16 USS GEORGIA
SUBRON 20 USS MARYLAND
1/02/2010 7:23 PM
MICHIGAN should've beaten OHIO. Great boat. Great crews.
1/02/2010 7:45 PM
So, I see the following:
CSS 17: USS Kentucky (Blue and Gold) (SSBN 737)
CSS 19: USS Ohio (Blue and Gold) (SSGN 726)
Is it possible for a single crew (Blue or Gold) to get an E? Or can one crew have a god-smacking crew, more than worthy but get torpedoed (ha!) by their relief?
v/r
PC
1/02/2010 8:54 PM
Takes two crews. That's where some of the tension between crews can come from. One crew performs as you suggest, and the other one runs into the side of the channel on Dec 30th. Just as an example...
1/02/2010 11:08 PM
Questions to those of you on board that may know...does everyone assigned to the boat at some point during calendar year get the ribbon, even if they showed up at end of year without going to sea; and does ORSE factor into the evaluation at all?
1/03/2010 1:49 AM
Authority to wear the ribbon comes from the Navy Awards Manual. The following applies:
(a) Navy personnel permanently attached to and
serving with cited ships and units during the competitive cycle
SECNAVINST 1650.1H
AUG 2 2 2006
for which the award was given, or any part thereof, are entitled
to the award as of 1 July 1974.
1/03/2010 5:42 AM
Some time ago CSS-20 gave a battle E to one gold and one blue crew. Don't know if it is written in stone to take two crews, but the Commodore at the time did not believe it.
1/03/2010 7:30 AM
CSS-20 has had its share of wacky Commodores.
1/03/2010 8:37 AM
NEVADA Blue got the award in '06 on their own; it's been speculated that the tow cable incident prevented the Gold Crew from getting it.
1/03/2010 9:23 AM
Glad to see the newest sub in the fleet setting the high standard. (USS New Hampshire)!!!!
1/03/2010 11:31 AM
It was an eye opening experience to see how the Battle E boat is chosen by the squadron. There are a lot of hard working crews out there with some really great chiefs quaters, but when it comes down to it you have to choose the boat that can perform any mission, any time. For those boats that did not get the Battle E this hear take a hard critical assessment of how you are doing business and make it your 2010 resolution to do it better.
FastAttackChief
1/03/2010 2:09 PM
@ Squints:
"Glad to see the newest sub in the fleet setting the high standard. (USS New Hampshire)!!!!"
Agree, BZ to CDR Stevens and the Officers and Crew of NEW HAMPSHIRE!
BTW, the shipyard is waiting.....
1/03/2010 5:09 PM
You mean that the Battle E boat doesn't have to be filled with political whores? You mean that doing your job and doing it well is all it takes? I have seen a couple boats with damned fine crews, good officers, and great chiefs get crushed before because their senior leadership didn't go out of their ways to suck some political cock at squadron. But the boats that did get it didn't even deploy during the year, but their CO was always humping the commodore's leg. I am sorry, but I still have no faith in the selection process.
1/03/2010 5:10 PM
1710 ANON:
Which Squadron do you speak of....?
1/03/2010 6:19 PM
retcob -
"Joel probably had a few good COBs!"
Definitely not "Just a PUTZ"....An Ass HAT!
1/03/2010 6:36 PM
WAAIAMA (MIAMI) Wardroom Says:
WTF!!!
1 month "deployment" versus 8+ do'in the real stuff. Guess the CO can't hump the leg when he's on the front line!
Checks with chart in CSS4.....
1/03/2010 6:40 PM
Topeka, I'm gonna let you finish but I just gotta say that Jeff City had one of the greatest years of all time, of all time.
1/03/2010 7:57 PM
Too bad they can't post the results of who was #2 on down so all the boats know where they stand.
Would like to see a scoring rubik for the Battle E and take the politics out of it. So many points for inspections, underways..stuff liek that. Also an average way depending on if a boat has an inspection or not.
The Battle E has always been controversial. I have seen boats get it who didn't have much underway time during the year. This was all during the 80s and 90s. Seemed it was more a politcal reward than a production award.
STSCS(SS/SW) USN RET
1/03/2010 8:00 PM
"Seemed it was more a politcal reward than a production award."
Welcome to the 21st century Submarine Force (though it has been going on well before 2000). Its about who you know, who you don't know, smoke and mirrors, and some guy sticking his finger in the wind to determine who gets what.
Some may say I am off track with that assessment, but I have always hear from the nukes..."perception is reality!" Maybe we can get a little more transparency in the process...like what we are getting from the current Administration.
Oh, wait...
1/04/2010 4:27 AM
anon 1836
"Definitely not "Just a PUTZ"....An Ass HAT!"
Could these possibly be terms of endearment? How could a COB in the modern submarine force possibly be considered an "Ass HAT"? All the screening that's in place should ensure only the most outstanding chiefs rise to such extreme levels of responsibility! Geez.
retcob
1/04/2010 5:04 AM
Been wondering myself what the term "Ass HAT" means. I know a laundry list of "terms of endearment," but I never heard that one before. Please explain...
1/04/2010 10:15 AM
Ass HAT...............
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ass-hat
Bill Stains, Ret. USN
1/04/2010 3:56 PM
Perception is NOT reality... Just because some punk drops acid and sees pink dragons, which are very real to him, in reality there are no pink dragons. Same goes for a submarine. Just because you don't see any problems yourself, it doesn't mean that they aren't there. It all depends on your point of view. Are you looking from "inside the box" or outside of it? It is way easier to see other peoples problems when you aren't directly involved, and totally miss your own probems when you are in the middle of the action. Just because YOU think your boat, department, division is hot sh!t, it doesn't make it necessarily true. Since squadron is looking at your command from outside the box as it were, maybe they see something that you don't. It doesn't always have to be a political decision, though I do admit that most decisions in the Navy usually are politics first, practicality second.
1/04/2010 11:01 PM
I had my exit interview with my last skipper in his cabin. He was preparing to go to sea and I was ready to go home. He told me that in the sub service, the best you could hope for was to break even. Then, he shook my hand and said "Thanks for breaking even."
I find the idea of competition in the military ludicrous. The competition is the enemy, get it?
Joe alferio
1/05/2010 5:37 AM
About the comment
"i feel the same way about the Kentucky"
Our crew (gold crew) was commented as best in squadron and deserved the Battle E. The Sonar shack had a good mix of reliable compitent sailors that do it right the first time.
1/05/2010 10:09 AM
Joe a:
I was on a boat in the olden days that prided itself for all the Averages we got on inspections. We were the squadron's 'A-boat'. CO/XO/COB were tickled to death to get one after another. Helps confirm the 'the best you could hope for was to break even' theory.
Of course that boat also raked in a shit-load of medals for operations in support of the national defense.
retcob
1/05/2010 11:29 AM
This comment has been removed by the author.
1/05/2010 12:12 PM
At least the boats are eligible...
I served on a PHIBRON staff where the CDRE couldn't give it to any of the ships, they weren't eligible.
But then again, spilling oil into the water and failing 3M inspections (and the re-'s) like it's your job for all ships would probably do that.
1/05/2010 7:58 PM
The real question is how San Juan got a Battle E when the 2 other boats (Memphis and Miami) in Sqd 12 did deployments without breaking and requiring fly away teams to fix them, twice, proof that's it is NOT about being capable.
1/06/2010 2:02 PM
I'd just like to point out for the record that USS Maryland (from the SUBLANT winners) is SSBN-738 vice SSGN.
Congrats to the Maryland crews on winning it two years in a row.
1/06/2010 7:44 PM
Good catch! Corrected Maryland's hull designation.
1/07/2010 8:36 AM
Yea, it's good to see my last boat doing so well now. MARYLAND has gone through some ups and downs in her career, and I remember when the Blue Crew won the "E" while the Gold Crew did not. Needless to say, the Gold Crew did not deserve to win, and I was a "Goldy" at the time. I can see both sides of the argument about that, but overall, I prefer that the ship earns the "E", not the crew.
1/11/2010 1:42 PM
To all the crews out there that did not win don't worry yourself with that. Pick your heads up cause there's others chest candy that's worth more to your unit and if your unit gets higher awards given by SECNAV during your deployment and during your deployment if you shine you yourself will receive higher chest candy then the battle E. I wish there was a flag to fly for the Tactical T my unit has received 5 straight. If I had to man up and go to war I would rather be on a 5 in a row Tactical T boat then a boat who picked up the battle E.
1/12/2010 10:29 PM
BZ Santa Fe on a successful deployment, battle e, eng e, comm c, adm a.
you guys are the boat to beat!
1/16/2010 8:32 PM
anyone seen the soy, jsoy, and jooy results anywhere?
2/03/2010 11:31 AM
As far as the Battle E for Nevada in 06, that was the second in a row for this boat which never had any. As for how it was won, both crews were great and I will say I learned alot from the Gold COB. Our Blue crew was just spot on for the three years I was a part of it. (thanks Orlando, CDR Halloway, CDR Hartsfield, COB Jewitt and especially Blue Crew.
another retired COB.
3/04/2010 9:39 PM
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