Four NSWC Panama City Division employees awarded for accelerating LCAC fleet readiness

Four NSWC Panama City Division employees awarded for accelerating LCAC fleet readiness

By Shauna Love-von Knoblauch, NSWC PCD Public Affairs

The Landing Craft, Air Cushion (LCAC) craft provides the Navy with a unique combination of range, speed, and amphibious versatility to complete missions. Four Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD) civilian employees were instrumental in ensuring this capability was fully operational and ready to support the fleet. For their contributions, Garrett Fulton was awarded the Department of the Navy Civilian Service Commendation Medal, while Mitchell Martin, Mark Williams, and Louis Barba each received the Department of the Navy Civilian Service Achievement Medal.

These awards recognized their pivotal roles in successfully delivering four LCAC craft from NSWC PCD to Assault Craft Unit Four (ACU-4) via the USS Gunston Hall (LSD-44). This Lift of Opportunity (LOO), conducted in the fall of 2025, was essential for naval readiness despite significant challenges.

As the LCAC maintenance deputy, Fulton orchestrated a compressed schedule to complete all critical repairs, upgrades, and inspections. Despite managing a team resourced for only two craft, his technical expertise and dedication returned four non-mission-capable LCAC craft and one backup craft to full operational status. This complex effort included executing a vital composite shroud repair to restore structural integrity and performing intricate starter inspections on 20 gas-turbine engines, ultimately ensuring all required assets were fully mission-capable for transport.

The mission also faced a critical shortage of qualified personnel at ACU-4. Stepping up to prevent a major operational setback, Martin and Williams, both highly qualified LCAC operators, volunteered to pilot LCAC-109 and LCAC-112, respectively, while Barba volunteered as flight engineer for LCAC-112.

"It was good to be able to support the fleet. When ACU- 4 didn't have enough qualified LCAC Operators to support the LOO, we were asked, and we delivered!" Williams said. "This evolution was a critical lift - delivering fleet assets to the assault craft unit. Our assistance with this maximized the opportunity to get all four craft delivered, which was a huge win for the unit and the Navy."

Their actions enabled the deployment of the full complement of four LCACs. Martin, Williams, and Barba not only conducted the initial flight operations but also remained with the USS Gunston Hall during its transit to Norfolk, Virginia, before maneuvering the craft to their destination at the ACU-4 ramp.

The combined, focused efforts of these four individuals averted significant programmatic delays and ensured critical assets were delivered on time to accelerate force generation while maximizing quality, readiness and availability for fleet tasking.