FEBRUARY 7, 2025 – The Defense Department recently presented the 2024 Phoenix Award for Maintenance Excellence to sailors attached to the maintenance crew of the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island.
Presented annually to honor DOD’s top-performing field-level maintenance unit, the Phoenix Award was presented to representatives of the Makin Island at the 2024 Secretary of Defense Maintenance Awards ceremony, which was held in conjunction with the annual DOD Maintenance Symposium in Salt Lake City.
The Makin Island crew bested five other field-level winners to earn the Phoenix, which is the most prestigious of DOD maintenance awards.
“Sailors of the USS Makin Island … [embodied] pride and hands-on leadership during pre-deployment training in the [U.S. 3rd Fleet,] followed by a combat deployment to the [U.S. 7th] Fleet area of responsibility,” reads a DOD statement on the award.
The statement further reads that the Makin Island established itself as the first warship in the Navy’s fleet to embark two combat elements composed of 10 F-35 Lightning II fighter jets, 10 MV-22 Osprey cargo aircraft and three MH-60 Sea Hawk helicopters that executed more than 12,600 launch and recovery evolutions for 9,900 flight hours.
“The crew’s innovative maintenance of shipboard equipment across 15 departments and assigned aircraft contributed to unsurpassed operational readiness levels, cost savings, customer support, and unit morale,” the statement continued. It also points out that the engineering department maintained 100% operational readiness of the vessel for uninterrupted maneuverability and mission flexibility, enabling it to safely sail 47,000 miles.
The air department also generated a 99% sortie completion rate while deployed in seven named operations, 16 theater security operations and 10 engagements with partners and allies across two oceans and 24 straits and critical waterways, according to the statement.
“The geopolitical complexity across the globe today is staggering, which makes it critical that the imperative to maintain and sustain our weapons systems toward a persistently high state of readiness has never been more important,” Air Force Lt. Gen. Stacey T. Hawkins, commander of Air Force Sustainment Center, Air Force Materiel Command, said while delivering keynote remarks at the ceremony.
“The warrior teams being recognized tonight lead the world with innovative approaches in various theaters of warfighting by taking on new challenges, adapting to them and competing with our pacing threats to keep our joint force relevant, capable and lethal,” Hawkins continued.
Proper maintenance is a key component of military readiness, which is one of five focus points that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth listed in his Jan. 27, 2025, message to the force (the others being lethality, meritocracy, accountability and standards).
The trophy for the Phoenix Award for Maintenance Excellence is on permanent display in the Pentagon, and it will bear Makin Island’s unit insignia throughout the year.
Additionally, the ship’s crew received a traveling version of the trophy that can be prominently displayed aboard the ship until next year’s winner is announced.
By Matthew Olay, DOD News