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Bataan Earns 2009 Battle "E" Award

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS100212-02
Release Date: 2/12/2010 11:52:00 AM

From USS Bataan Public Affairs

USS BATAAN, At Sea (NNS) -- Commander, Naval Surface Forces (SURFOR) awarded the crew of multipurpose amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5) with the 2009 Battle Effectiveness Award (Battle "E") Feb. 11.

Bataan continues humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts off the coast of Haiti in support of Operation Unified Response.

SURFOR presents the award annually to ships and crews around the fleet who present the maximum condition of departmental readiness and display an outstanding capability to perform wartime tasks.

"The Battle E is awarded to those few ships that are truly the best, and it's a reflection of the dedication and hard work of the crew," said Capt. Sam Howard, Bataan's commanding officer. "We have been honing excellence for a long time, but this is not just a ship's company thing; this is the excellence that runs across Bataan—iron sharpening iron. Bataan has been sharpened by the 22nd MEU (22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit), ACU-4 (Assault Craft Unit 4), HSC-22 (Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 22), and a number of other detachments that have made significant contributions to the way we do business."

To earn the award, Bataan maintained superior performance in the categories of maritime warfare; engineering and survivability; command, control communications and information warfare; logistics management; and safety and efficiency excellence. Bataan received Command Excellence Awards in four of those five categories.

Bataan spent most of 2009 underway, completing a Composite Unit Training Exercise in February and a Certification Exercise in March, before embarking on a seven-month deployment conducting Maritime Security Operations in the U.S. Fifth and Sixth Fleet areas of responsibility. The ship returned to her homeport of Norfolk Dec. 8 and deployed to Haiti Jan. 14.

"This crew has been performing at a Battle E level for a long time, so hearing the news and reading the message confirms what I've known all along," said Howard. "We now want to make Bataan the permanent home of the Battle E."

The award is Bataan's fifth since her commissioning Sept. 20, 1997. The ship last received the honor for calendar year 2007.

The Navy Battle Efficiency Ribbon was established July 1, 1974, by then-Secretary of the Navy J. William Middendorf to recognize ships and aviation squadrons who are the best in the fleet in all areas of battle readiness.

Bataan continues to aid humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts off the coast of Haiti in support of Operation Unified Response since its arrival Jan. 18.

Operation Unified Response is part of a larger U.S. response to a request from the government of Haiti for urgent humanitarian aid. U.S. Southern Command is working closely with the Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the international community to provide life-sustaining services to the people of Haiti. All military efforts are in support of USAID, which is orchestrating U.S. government contributions to the relief.