George Washington (CVN 73) - Naval Cruise Book

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GW won the Ney Award for food service excellence Day 61 How many ways arc there to prepare and serve meals? Two hundred? A thousand? On hoard USS George Washington there was only one...the best way. Confirmation of this fact came on the night of July 19th via message announcing that George Washington had won the CAPT Edward F. Ney Memorial Award for Excellence in Food Service. George Washington was singled out. Navy-wide, as the best of the best. The Food Service Division underwent a rigorous 2-day inspection just prior to the Presidential embark in June. The final inspection was the climax to a year-long competition in which every other carrier was eliminated from the running. Continued on noxt page Underway 119

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 “The inspectors looked at how the meals were prepared from the food coming onto the ship, out of the box. into the ovens and onto the trays,” CW02 Gordon Keith, Food Service Officer, said. “They watched everything with a very careful eye and our guys showed them that nobody can put a better meal on the table. In addition to looking at the end product, the inspectors looked at the galley and messdeck equipment and machinery. The people who use that equipment need to be qualified, well trained and have a working knowledge of all hazards associated with the machines. Safety is as much a part of turning out meals for the crew as it is making a new part in engineering. 120 Underway They looked at it all (machinery) from the mixers in the bake shop to the salt shakers on the tables. Cleanliness was the key.” LT Lindy Kock, the Principal Assistant for Service (PAS), said. After observing the movement of food from the storage spaces, the inspectors monitored how it was prepared, carefully noting the cooks’ cleanliness and flair when creating breakfast, lunch and dinner for 5,000-plus crew. The final test was to sample each component of the meal on the mess decks in the same setting George Washington Sailors eat. “The Mess Deck Master-at-Arms and the Food Service Attendants really contributed to winning,” MSC (SW AW) Darrell Anders. LCPO, S-2M Division said. “We keep the mess decks clean all the time,” he added. “So the inspection was no big deal to my guys. They just took a little more care and I kept checking more and more as the inspection got near.” One of the FSAs who lived the Ney experience had another view: “Keeping the salad bar stocked and clean was important but there was also a big push on to keep all the tables well stocked ... ketchup bottles needed to be clean and full, salt and pepper full and napkins ready, S2 and S2M were not the only contributors to George Washington’s The silverware sparkled, glasses were spotless and tabletops clean as they ate their meals over the two-day visit.