U.S. Navy Sub Gets Public Award for Top-Secret Mission

 

The Navy has awarded a submarine crew a high-profile public commendation for a mission that it cannot disclose. USS Washington, a Virginia-class fast attack sub based in Norfolk, has been awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for long-endurance secret missions it carried out on a deployment to Europe. It is far from the first time that the Navy has celebrated the covert activities of the submarine force, which has racked up dozens of top honors for unspecified missions that usually - but not always - remain concealed in the depths. 

In a statement, the Navy gave hints about the circumstances and the importance of the intelligence operation, but not the location or the objectives. Vice Adm. Rob Gaucher, commander of Submarine Forces, said that Washington's crew entered high risk environments on "vital national level missions." 

They obtained "sensitive and unique intelligence information" over the course of three unusually long missions and 37,000 nautical miles of transit time. The sub set a new record for days on station for any East Coast sub deployment, thanks to careful husbanding of stores, and the crew stayed on task through "long periods without readily accessible support."

"The crew spent countless hours on training, maintenance, and certification," said Senior Chief Machinist’s Mate Austin Gilbert, Washington’s chief enlisted officer. "While deployed, their resiliency was crucial to their success."

The sub's area of operation was not explicitly disclosed, but it called at Faslane and again at Grotsund, a fjord near Tromso in Norway's Arctic north. USS Washington was also awarded the new Arctic Service Medal for "exceptional service and dedication during operations in the strategic Arctic region."

The "silent service" has racked up many Presidential Unit Citations over the years, and a famous intelligence-gathering sub holds the service-wide record. USS Parche, the most decorated vessel in Navy history, racked up 10 of them over 30 years in service (along with dozens of other awards). Parche was one of several heavily-modified attack subs outfitted to wiretap Soviet subsea cables, a task she famously performed within Russian territorial waters in the Sea of Okhotsk.