USS Ramage Chief Selected for George Sirian Award
30 September 2022
NAVAL STATION NORFOLK --
The Surface Navy Association (SNA) presented the 2022 Master Gunner George Sirian Meritorious Service Award to Chief Gas Turbine Systems Technician (Mechanical) Adam Yenny, during a ceremony aboard USS Constitution, Sept. 30, 2022.
The award honors George Sirian, a 19th century “Old Ironsides” crewmember who rose through the ranks from seaman to warrant officer in a career that spanned more than 50 years.
Yenney’s selection for the award recognizes years of hard work and dedication to his ship and shipmates. Currently assigned to the Arleigh Burke-class, guided-missile destroyer USS Ramage (DDG 61), with Yenney aboard, the crew won back-to-back Battle E Awards, putting the ship in elite and rare company.
Yenney filled a critical fleet gap aboard USS Jason Dunham (DDG 109) in 2021. Under his leadership, the Engineering Department excelled operationally and earned a score of 93% on their engineering light-off assessment.
A year later and back aboard Ramage, Yenney sprang into action when the ship underwent an unexpected dry dock period. His actions affected the entire ship, reducing negative effects for Sailors living aboard and reducing the impact on the ship’s basic phase. Ramage commanding officer, Cmdr. James Walker, recognized Yenney’s efforts as key to being able to getting underway two weeks after refloating.
"I cannot say enough about Yenney’s leadership and competence," said Walker. "His innovative approach to leadership, unselfish dedication to duty, demonstrated resiliency and competence are exactly the traits we need to promote in our Sailors and leaders."
According to SNA, this award recognizes a chief petty officer for a consistent long-term demonstration of inspirational leadership, exceptional seamanship, and operational excellence in surface warfare skills and exemplary performance in organization and management, mission accomplishment, motivation and leadership, and mentoring.
The award is traditionally presented onboard Sirian’s first ship, USS Constitution. During his naval career, Sirian served in 37 successive tours on 20 different ships and seven shore stations, including on USS Constitution's World Cruise, as a gunnery instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy during the American Civil War, and in Japan and Hong Kong. He is the only Sailor to have served on Constitution on three separate tours of duty.