Carney awarded Battle 'E'

Photo By Petty Officer 3rd Class Nathan Lang | 150903-N-RX128-020 MAYPORT, Fla. (Sept. 3, 2015) – Capt. Glenn Kuffel, commodore of Destroyer Squadron Fourteen, addresses the crew of USS Carney (DDG 64) during an all-hands call on the flight deck. The ship will depart its homeport of Mayport, Fla., Sept. 6, as the final of four Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers to be forward deployed to Rota, Spain. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Nathan J. Lang/Released)  

MAYPORT, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES

09.03.2015

Courtesy Story

U.S. Navy           

By Chief Mass Communication Specialist Karen E. Cozza

MAYPORT, Fla. – USS Carney (DDG 64) was awarded the Battle “E” by Capt. Glenn Kuffel, the commodore of Naval Surface Squadron 14, during an informal ceremony on the flight deck.

“We’re here today to have a little award ceremony that recognizes your service, that recognizes your talent, that recognizes how hard you worked in getting this ship ready and putting this ship to sea,” said Kuffel.

Trading his cover for a Carney ballcap, the commodore presented the ship with a wooden plaque. After accepting the award, Cmdr. Ken Pickard, commanding officer of Carney then took the plaque into the middle of the crowd and gave it to the crew.

Carney exceeded the performance of all other Mayport ships in calendar year 2014. The first ever AEGIS BMD 4.0 destroyer, the ship completed an eight-month ballistic missile defense (BMD) deployment in the 5th Fleet area of responsibility. They scored 98 percent in Anti-terrorism certification, top marks in C5F Tomahawk land attack missile (TLAM), and broke records in intelligence collection as well as earning high points throughout the yearlong assessment.

Command Master Chief Jon Lonsdale, aboard since March 2013, spoke about the process leading up the award, “We had an intense basic phase of training; because we’re a BMD ship, we get a little extra attention. Everything we’ve come across; the crew’s hit a home run. We made the decision easy.”

As a testament to her BMD capabilities and readiness, Carney executed critical no-notice tasking four times in the Arabian Gulf. Her management of BMD communications paths, data links and intelligence collaboration at the Strike Group level drastically reduced response time for surface units, making time critical BMD response a reality in 5th Fleet.

“We worked expeditiously,” said Boatswain’s Mate 3rd Class Benjamin Stier. “We get business done, we do it right the first time and we don’t cut corners.”

As the ceremony came to a close, Kuffel spoke about his past experience as commanding officer of the ship.

“I’ve got my heart and soul in this ship; my blood, sweat and tears in this ship. From 2007 to 2008 she was mine,” said Kuffel. “I could be blindfolded and know when I was on Carney, she’s different; she’s special.”

Carney is the fourth and last ship to be forward deployed to Rota, Spain as part of President Obama’s European Phased Adaptive Approach to enhance the security of the European region. The ship departed her homeport of Mayport, Florida on Sept. 6.

• Date Taken: 09.03.2015
• Date Posted: 09.11.2015 16:14
• Story ID: 175790
• Location: MAYPORT, FLORIDA, US