The San Diego-homeported USS Dewey won an award given annually to a Pacific Fleet surface combatant ship deemed most proficient in combat readiness and warfare operations, the Navy announced Monday.
The Dewey, homeported at Naval Base San Diego, received the 2018 Spokane Trophy from the Spokane, Washington, Council of the Navy League of the United States at a Sept. 26 ceremony.
President Theodore Roosevelt helped establish the Navy League in 1902 and the Spokane Trophy in 1908. According to the Navy, the Dewey is a first- time winner of the award, which is kept on permanent display at the Pacific Fleet headquarters in San Diego.
The Naval Carrier Strike Group Three commander, Rear Adm. Fred Pyle, praised the ship's sailors above all else as the reason for Dewey received the award.
"While systems we use are continuously modernized and become more complex, success in warfare will always be based on the sailors to prepare, plan, operate and maintain our ships and warfighting systems," he said.
The Dewey is a member of Naval Carrier Strike Group 1 and was commissioned in Seal Beach in 2010. It is the third ship to be named for Admiral of the Navy George Dewey, who is regarded as a hero for leading U.S. forces during the Spanish-American War's Battle of Manila Bay.
