Keeping the blogosphere posted on the goings on of the world of submarines since late 2004... and mocking and belittling general foolishness wherever it may be found. Idaho's first and foremost submarine blog. (If you don't like something on this blog, please E-mail me; don't call me at home.)

Thursday, January 03, 2013

2012 Battle "E" Winners

As we enter 2013, a year that will likely focus on the 50th anniversary of the tragic loss of USS Thresher (SSN 593) in the submarine community, we can look back on the best of the Submarine Force for last year. As usual, SUBPAC got their announcement out into the wild first; here are their winners:

Commander, Submarine Squadron 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 and 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.

Other than Frank Cable and Arco, who always win[s], the only repeat winner from the Pac was Buffalo -- Congratulations, guys! I was glad to see my old boat Jimmy Carter earn an "E" (they also got the Engineering "E"); this is her first one since the 2009 cycle. (Note that there was no SUBRON 3 award because the squadron merged with SUBRONs 1 and 7 back in February.)

I'll post the SUBLANT list when I find it.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Update 0850 03 Jan: While we're waiting for the SUBLANT list, here's a Google Earth "mystery" for Submariners from AviationIntel.com. I'm guessing it's NR-1.

Update 0740 06 Jan: Here's the SUBLANT list:

SUBRON 4 (Groton) - USS New Hampshire (SSN 778)
SUBRON 6 (Norfolk) - USS Boise (SSN 764)
SUBDESRON 12 (Groton) - USS Toledo (SSN 769)
SUBRON 16 (Kings Bay) - USS Georgia (SSGN 729) (Blue and Gold)
SUBRON 20 (Kings Bay) - USS Alaska (SSBN 732) (Blue and Gold)

Boise seems to be on a tear lately, and I was happy to see my old Nuke School classmate CAPT Rhett Jaehn earn one with his new boat. For those wondering where the CSS2 boat is, remember they were disestablished almost a year ago (and SUBRON 8 went away back in 2011).

As always, BZ to all the winners!

(Also corrected my mistake in automatically assuming that Frank Cable won again without actually reading what I posted -- thanks to the commenter for pointing that out.)

23 Comments:

Anonymous Dardar the Submarian said...

When I was on the Gato, we went to the site of the Thresher on her 42nd anniversary. Being the Gato was the last boat of the 594 class submarine, we read the names of the crew members of the Thresher and performed a 21 gun salute. Powerful stuff.

1/03/2013 8:31 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Glad to see Ohio (B) on the list once again. They deserve the recognition on the work they have put in this past year.

1/03/2013 8:43 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Small submarine in Google Earth picture: NR-1 was painted Orange, or at least a good portion of it was, right?

1/03/2013 10:37 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Looks like the bone yard in PSNS so it very well could be NR-1. just about the right size.

1/03/2013 11:04 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The small sub is absolutely NR-1. When she was decommed at PNSY (New Hampshire), her orange sail was transferred to the museum in Groton and the rest of the hull was put on a barge and shipped around to PSNS. Glad to see she isn't razorblades yet. Wouldn't it be cool if NR-1 was resurrected to dive another day?

1/03/2013 12:03 PM

 
Anonymous wolfman said...

The gay ass Hawaii did worse than us.....

I fucken hate politics

1/03/2013 12:25 PM

 
Anonymous JTav8r said...

I will echo that it is good to see OHIO (B) on the list again - We won twice 83-86 when I was there.(We were SSBN at that time with SUBRON 17)

The SUBLANT list is below:

The 2012 COMSUBLANT Battle "E" winners, their homeports, and commanding officers are:

Commander, Submarine Squadron 4 (Groton, Conn.) - USS New Hampshire (SSN 778), commanded during the competition by Cmdr. John McGunnigle.

SUBRON 6 (Norfolk, Va.) - USS Boise (SSN 764), commanded by Cmdr. Brian Sittlow

Commander, Submarine Development Squadron 12 (Groton, Conn.) - USS Toledo (SSN 769), commanded by Cmdr. Sam Geiger.

SUBRON 16 (Kings Bay, Ga.) - USS Georgia (SSGN 729) (Blue) commanded during the competition by Capt. Kelly McDowell and Capt. Daniel Christofferson, and USS Georgia (SSGN 729) (Gold), commanded during the competition by Capt. Michael Cockey and Capt. Rhett Jaehn.

SUBRON 20 (Kings Bay, Ga.) - USS Alaska (SSBN 732) (Blue), commanded during the competition by Cmdr. Kevin Byrne and Cmdr. Todd Figanbaum, and USS Alaska (SSBN 732) (Gold) commanded by Cmdr. Robert Wirth.

1/03/2013 12:31 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm also certain the overhead shows NR-1. I walked that hull many times in drydock while at EBDiv in the '70's and I recognize some of the topside fittings as well as the locations of the propulsion motors. The blue covering is at the location of the RC.

1/03/2013 3:53 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

That's the Nerd alright. 3 years of my blood sweat and tears in that boat.

1/03/2013 5:32 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Joel, the Frank Cable didn't get the Battle E this year. ESL did. They were both subpac assets the whole year.

1/03/2013 8:43 PM

 
Blogger Vigilis said...

Apparently two readers (above) positively identified the 'mystery sub' as the NR-1. However, there still seems another little mystery.

Either where was the photo actually shot, or why has Google Earth imprinted an incorrect Lat and Long on the photo as shown? Last time I checked 33' 20.23" N 122' 38'26.84" W was neither PNSY or Kitsap.

1/04/2013 12:30 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

^^^^
Except that's not the lat-long in the photo. Try again.

1/04/2013 1:11 AM

 
Anonymous Dardar the Submarian said...

There is a 47 in front of that latitude.

If you put 47 33.2N 122 38.2W into google maps, the page will go almost to that first brow.

God, I hated that place. If I scan down the page to the decomm drydock, I can almost still see parts of the Gato lying around.

1/04/2013 5:14 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I guess it was a good year to be on a boat with women - both coasts you see. PC and got you an itty-bitty ribbon!

1/04/2013 6:35 AM

 
Anonymous Dardar the Submarian said...

As far as I'm concerned; you make a run with women, you should get a medal. The politics alone are medal worthy.

Zip your pant up Anonymous@6:35 AM. Your Mangina is showing.

1/04/2013 7:11 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Took 'em long enough: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/submarine-commander-removed-oct-collision-18135007#.UOdOW28T7ro

1/04/2013 2:53 PM

 
Anonymous My Two Cents said...

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2013/01/ap-sub-commander-removed-montpelier-collision-010413/

Yes, don't scrape paint!

1/04/2013 7:14 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"The Navy said in a statement that an investigation into the incident revealed that the primary cause of the collision was human error, poor teamwork by the Montpelier watch team and the commanding officer's failure to follow procedures for submarines operating at periscope death."

Interesting that they waited until the investigation was complete to fire the CO. Usually they pull the trigger right away - the Commodore doesn't need to see the investigation to declare "loss of confidence" - so either this was a tougher call, or there is a new emphasis on "due process".

1/04/2013 7:20 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

or they wanted to avoid beating the 2003 record for CO firing by waiting 6 weeks...

1/05/2013 6:09 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Rumor has it CFFC toured the boat in Kings Bay shortly after the collision and was very impressed with the CO. So much so he made a strong recommendation to those in charge to make him an example that the Navy is trying to get away from the "zero defect mentality". Ultimately though if he was personally involved in the PD preps and trip it would be hard to spare him. This outcome shows that was the case.

Rumor also has it SUBFOR said that this CO was at least top-5 CO in the force.

Food for thought.

1/05/2013 9:36 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

^^^ Proves the old addage - "It only takes one Aww Shit to erase a ton of attaboys"

1/05/2013 2:33 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

wolfman you sound like a miserable twat. Not sure what 'worse than us' means considering the Hawaii was above average on all major inspections and met all assigned tasking. The performance of the Hawaii speaks for itself, but you can continue to wallow in your so called politics and incessant whining.

1/10/2013 4:01 PM

 
Anonymous wolf man said...

I am on a submarine. being bitter is part of who we are as enlisted

1/21/2013 1:16 AM

 

Post a Comment

<< Home