Congrats Battle E Winners!

Congratulations to our squadron-mate USS KEY WEST on winning the Submarine Squadron 3 Battle E for 2007, and congrats to all of the other boats that won for their respective squadrons.

Updated on the evening watch, 03 Jan 2008: The Navy Website has ALL the Submarine Force 2007 Battle E winners listed - click here. So congrats also to our previous squadron mates USS SCRANTON for winning the Submarine Squadron 6 Battle E.

Here were the rest of the winners from COMSUBPAC:

R 010001Z JAN 08
FM COMSUBPAC PEARL HARBOR HI//00//
TO SUBPAC

BT UNCLAS //N03590//

MSGID/GENADMIN/COMSUBPAC//
SUBJ/BATTLE EFFICIENCY COMPETITION//
REF/A/DOC/COMNAVSUBFOR/19JUL06//
AMPN/COMNAVSUBFORINST 3590.15C, BATTLE EFFICIENCY COMPETITION AND INTRATYPE SERVICE AWARDS//
RMKS/1. PER REF A, IT IS WITH GREAT PLEASURE THAT I ANNOUNCE THE FOLLOWING WINNERS OF THE 2007 BATTLE EFFICIENCY COMPETION:
A. BATTLE EFFICIENCY E : CO/XO/COB/CMC/SEA

SUBRON ONE USS LOS ANGELES
CDR E. BURIAN (CO)
CDR C. HENRY (XO)(D)
LCDR E. GEORGE (XO)(R)
ETCM(SS) A. GREEN (COB)

SUBRON THREE USS KEY WEST
CDR T. ISHEE (CO)
LCDR J. BELZ (XO)(D)
LCDR C. NASH (XO)(R)
MMCS(SS) B. STILLWELL

SUBDEVRON FIVE USS JIMMY CARTER
CDR D. HONABACH (CO)
LCDR M. WARD (XO)
CMDCM(SS) D. GEORGE (COB)

SUBRON SEVEN USS CHEYENNE
CDR M. TESAR (CO)
LCDR J. GEARHART (XO)(D)
LCDR A. SPENS (XO)(R)
ETCM(SS) K. PAGE (COB)(D)
FTCS(SS) V. SMITH (COB)(R)

SUBRON ELEVEN USS TOPEKA
CAPT D. HICKS (CO)(D)
CAPT D. CAUDLE (CO)(D)
CDR M. STERN (CO)(R)
LCDR T. WINTER (XO)
ETCM(SS) C. GRANDIN (COB)

SUBRON FIFTEEN USS HOUSTON
CDR J. ZAVADIL (CO)(D)
CDR M. LEWIS (CO)(R)
LCDR R. SEIF (XO)(D)
LCDR B. TOTHERO (XO)(R)
FTCM(SS) A. QUATRO (COB)(D)
ETCS(SS) P. SWEENEY(COB)(R)

SPECIAL CATEGORY FRANK CABLE
CAPT L. GOFF (CO)(D)
CAPT P. SCANLON (CO)(R)
CDR S. COLE (XO)(D)
CDR P. THOMAS (XO)(R)
CMDCM(SW/AW) M. FIOREY (CMC)

SUBRON SEVENTEEN USS LOUISIA(BLUE)
CDR B. CONVERSE (CO)
LCDR G. G. MCRAE (XO)(D)
LCDR S. MUTH (XO)(R)
MMCM(SS) D. JONES (COB)
USS LOUISIANA (GOLD)
CDR S. KAWANE (CO)
CDR D. JORDAN (XO)(D)
LCDR B. JOHNSON (XO)(R)
ETCS(SS) T. METCALF (COB)

SUBRON NINETEEN USS MAINE (BLUE)
CDR TOLLIVER (CO)
CDR JAMES (XO)(D)
LCDR THOMAS (XO)(R)
MMCM(SS) VANTINO (COB)
USS MAINE (GOLD)
CDR NORMAN (CO)(D)
CDR BREITFELDER (CO)(R)
LCDR SKRETKOWICZ (XO)(D)
LCDR FIGGS (XO)(R)
MMCM(SS) KETOLA (COB)

For anyone who doesn't know what the "Battle E" is: Every year, each squadron of ships in the Navy selects which ship was the best in the squadron overall and awards that ship the Battle Efficiency "E." Every member of the crew at the time the award is issued gets to wear the Battle E ribbon with a little "E" device (up to a maximum of four E's). Click here for the Wikipedia explanation of the Battle E and pictures of a couple of ships with the big white E painted on their bridge.

Note, there are other lesser awards like the Navigation "N" and the Tactical "T" and the Communications "C" and a Damage Control "DC." There's also a red E for Engineering and a blue E for Supply. Those awards help to spread some encouragement and atta-boys along the waterfront to the other boats, and they're good bullets for evals and fitreps if you won the squadron award for your department. The top-dog award is THE Battle E though, and some people think of the other lesser awards as the "booby prize" and get offended that they didn't get the Battle E.

Now, I know some people think the Battle E competition is all political and are bitter about it. I will admit, there were a couple of cases where I felt it was entirely a political which-CO-schmoozed-the-Commodore-the-most award, but I don't believe that is the standard. It's most certainly NOT the case with my current commodore, and I think KEY WEST is very deserving of the award this year.

I really liked the example one of my CO's set in always being vocally congratulatory to the guys who won it and praising them for the hard work they did to earn it. That CO at the same time refused to let any of us thump our chests or brag or "rest on our laurels" when we won the Battle E, because he said that was recognition for LAST year's work, and didn't count for anything THIS year, so get back to work!

Congratulations to the 2007 Battle E winners!
Now get back to work... :-)