The crew of the amphibious transport dock ship USS Anchorage (LPD 23) received the Battle Efficiency, or Battle "E" award, March 1.

This is the second consecutive win for Anchorage, which completed its maiden deployment in December 2015.

"The Battle 'E' clearly recognizes the hard work of Anchorage Sailors and the sacrifices made by Anchorage families over the past year," said Capt. J.J. Cummings, commanding officer of Anchorage.

The Battle "E" award is a tribute to the ship's overall readiness and was determined by a yearlong evaluation of Anchorage's accomplishments during training exercises and various command inspections.

"We are also honored to be the only LPD to win the Battle 'E' this year," said Cummings. "We will hang our second consecutive Battle 'E' on our bridge wing on behalf of the Anchorage families who supported us in 2015."

After work ups from January through March of 2015, Anchorage departed in April for a seven-month maiden deployment.

Cummings added, "the Anchorage team worked extremely hard to prepare for deployment and then performed exceptionally well in the 5th and 7th Fleet areas of operation."

Personnel aboard Anchorage are now authorized to wear the Navy "E" ribbon and Battle "E" device.

"Adding that ribbon to my rack is really special, [especially because] this is my first ship," said Personnel Specialist 3rd Class Ryan Bannon. "It was a challenging deployment, and I am glad that we are getting rewarded for [all our hard work]."

Anchorage is part of the Essex Amphibious Ready Group, and is in port San Diego undergoing a continuous maintenance availability (CMAV) to receive upgrades and repairs.

For more information on USS Anchorage, visit: http://www.public.navy.mil/surfor/lpd23/Pages/default.aspx

For more news from Expeditionary Strike Group 3, visit http://www.navy.mil/.