Selection for this award reflects the professionalism and dedication of these two crews. USS Seawolf (SSN 21) delivered exceptional operational performance as the first of her class to deploy to the Pacific area of responsibility, demonstrating "around the world" deployability while maintaining exceptional material readiness. USS Tucson (SSN 770) exhibited impressive operational acumen during several "first ever" missions and acted as an ambassador for the United States Navy through extensive crew exchange events with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force.While it might appear that this would be the time to grab the nearest skimmer and rub his (or her) face in the fact that two submarines won an award with "battleship" in the name, and therefore this proves that submarines are clearly better than targets, it should be noted that, traditionally, each general ship type gets this award in their "own" year. The list of winners (bottom of this Wiki) shows that two submarines also won in 2001... and 1996... and 1991... and 1986... and 1981... and 1976... you can kind of see a trend.
Still, this is a great accomplishment for the crews of the Seawolf and Tucson, and I'm sure they'll put the windfall for their rec funds to good use.
