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Gonzalez Wins CIWS Award

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS061016-09
Release Date: 10/16/2006 10:52:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class (SW) Brian Seymour, Commander, Naval Surface Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet Public Affairs

NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- Rear Adm. D.C. Curtis, Commander, Naval Surface Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, presented the 2005 Phalanx Close-In Weapons System (CIWS) Excellence award to USS Gonzalez (DDG 66) during a ceremony aboard the flight deck Oct. 2.

The guided missile destroyer Gonzalez is the first of its class since USS Donald Cook (DDG 75) received the award in 2002.

The award is given based on a number of different elements of operational efficiency, such as: total rounds fired, number of hours the systems were operational, operational hours between failures, and the number of technical assists from outside sources.

“It was really interesting to see an award given to representatives of three commands,” said Ens. Jennifer Kerner, Gonzalez’s fire control officer. “And the CIWS technicians were really honored to be recognized by Admiral Curtis.”

Gonzalez deployed on March 25, 2005 as part of the Kearsarge Expeditionary Strike Group. While forward deployed, the ship “swapped” crews three times, rotating with crews from other Norfolk-based destroyers at six-month intervals. The crew of Gonzalez shared the award with crews from USS Laboon (DDG 58) and USS Stout (DDG 55). More than a dozen total representatives of the Gonzalez sea swap crew were on hand to accept the award given by Curtis.

“This award demonstrates how successful the crews were during their deployments,” said Force Master Chief Hakim Diaz. “All three crews had to maintain the CIWS over a long period of time and this award is just a reflection of their hard work and professionalism.”

The MK 15 Phalanx CIWS is a fast-reaction, rapid-fire 20-millimeter gun system that provides ships with a terminal defense against anti-ship missiles that have penetrated other fleet defenses. Phalanx automatically engages functions usually performed by separate, independent systems such as search, detection, threat evaluation, acquisition, track, firing, target destruction, kill assessment and cease fire. It is also designed to engage anti-ship cruise missiles and fixed-wing aircraft at short range.