SANTA RITA, Guam (Feb. 26, 2021) – The leadership and crew of the Los Angeles class fast-attack submarine USS Key West (SSN 722) were presented with the Commander, Submarine Squadron 15 Battle “E” Award in a ceremony held at Naval Base Guam, Feb. 26.

Each year one submarine from each squadron is recognized and the Battle "E" is presented to the submarine crew that demonstrated the highest level of battle readiness during the evaluation year.

Capt. Bret Grabbe, Commander, Submarine Squadron 15, presented Cmdr. Michael McGuire, commanding officer of Key West, and his crew with the award.

“We are humbled to represent warfighting excellence for Squadron 15,” said McGuire, a native of West Babylon, New York. “This crew will continue to provide the United States with the competitive advantage necessary to meet our adversaries within the Indo-Pacific region."

The Battle "E" competition is conducted to strengthen individual command performance, overall force readiness and to recognize outstanding performance. The criterion for the award is the overall readiness of the command to carry out its assigned wartime tasks as a unit of the Pacific submarine force.

"The Key West is a family," said McGuire. "This year we have grown together which enabled us to better serve our country as one of our nation's most lethal warships at the tip of the spear.”

The Battle Efficiency competition evaluates submarines on their performance and readiness in the following fields: Engineering, Weapons, Strategic, Navigation/Operations, Communications/Cyber, Supply, Personnel, Medical and Repair.

In addition to the Battle “E,” Key West also earned the medical excellence, supply readiness, weapons readiness, and navigation excellence awards.

“I'm honored and humbled to be to serve alongside Key West’s team of dedicated fighters,” said Master Chief Jonathan Hollenbeck, Key West’s chief of the boat and native of Ithaca, New York. “Every Sailor assigned to Key West is laser focused on bringing the fight to our adversaries and this award recognizes that focus.”

Key West is one of multiple Los Angeles-class fast attack submarines assigned to CSS-15, which is located at Polaris Point, Naval Base Guam in Apra Harbor, Guam. The squadron staff is responsible for providing training, material and personnel readiness support to these commands. Also based out of Naval Base Guam are submarine tenders USS Frank Cable (AS 40) and USS Emory S. Land (AS 39). The submarines and tenders are maintained as part of the U.S. Navy's forward-deployed submarine force and are readily capable of meeting global operational requirements.

For more news from Commander, Submarine Squadron 15, visit our official CSS-15 website at http://www.csp.navy.mil/css15 and our official Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/SubmarineSquadron15/.

Are you interested in taking orders to Guam? Want to learn more about the duty station and life on our island? For more information, check out the ‘Go Guam!’ website at http://www.csp.navy.mil/go-guam/ and download the ‘1st Fifteen’ checklist.