Weapons Testing Unit Is Honored by Gore

A division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Port Hueneme received Vice President Al Gore’s Hammer Award in a shipboard ceremony Wednesday, in recognition of its efforts to cut costs and improve operations.

The honor was presented to about 50 members of the center’s Self Defense Test Ship team, which uses a remote-controlled destroyer to test and evaluate missile systems, officials said.

The decommissioned ship, in use since 1994, has saved taxpayers about $14.4 million and has reinvented defensive weapons and sensor system testing in the process, officials said. Previously, weapons testing had been limited, because of unacceptable risks that warships and crews faced.

Capt. James Phillips, who heads the center, received the wooden hammer award on behalf of team members from the Navy and three private contractors from Adm. George P. Nanos Jr., head of the Naval Sea System Command.

Use of the ship has resulted in more realistic weapons testing, a need prompted by a 1987 Iraqi strike against the Stark, officials said. Numerous crew members were killed, and the ship sustained serious damage in the attack.