VADM Charles B. Momsen Award
Established in 2025, this award recognizes submarine Sailors (Officer and Enlisted) and industry partners for significant contributions that directly contribute to advancing submarine force priorities in Robotics Autonomous Systems, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Advanced Manufacturing, and Cross-Domain Command and Control Systems.
2025 Awardees
LTJG Benjamin A. Sharib, USN
for exceptionally meritorious service as Officer in Charge of the Electra Program at COMSUBLANT.
LTJG Sharib’s actions in taking the expeditionary VLF program from a DARPA proof of concept to a fully functioning relocatable VLF transmitter and mobile Submarine Operating Authority, were instrumental in the program being converted into a Cross Domain Command and Control System, not only for Nuclear Command and Control, but also Resilient Command and Control and Special Operations usage. To meet operational requirements, he was tasked to take the DARPA Electra Program and implement operations in the shortest time possible. Having no experience in aerostat operations, LTJG Sharib brought in trusted subject matter experts and stakeholders to develop an implementation plan at the Pacific Missile Research Facility in Kauai, HI. Using fleet volunteers and working with industry engineers, he developed a training and qualification program, to include casualty response and continuous operations. His success proved long term operations of a VLF transmitting aerostat were possible by fleet sailors, thus increasing the communications redundancy to the NC3 community. Understanding the long-term employment of expeditionary VLF, LTJG Sharib implemented the process to the level that sailors could use for years to come. The training, qualifications, operating procedures, and drill program were all developed to mimic the nuclear level for Sailors to be comfortable with the material and how to use them in the future.
LTJG Sharib is most deserving of recognition by the Naval Submarine League to receive the Vice Admiral Charles Momsen Award for Submarine Professional Innovation.
Jeff Smith
for exceptionally meritorious service advancing technologies in direct support of the Submarine Force.
Mr. Jeff Smith has spent over three decades in the Maritime Industrial Base. Early in his career he supported production and modernization efforts for the Trident II Inertial Navigation System. Notably, he designed a desiccant module for the MK6 Inertial Measurement Unit, enabling the Navy to defer a major electronics life extension upgrade—delivering tangible cost savings and extending platform utility. Mr Smith helped field critical capabilities aboard the USS JIMMY CARTER (SSN 23), including its training systems. He also led the refurbishment, delivery, and fielding of a unique large ROV training system, reinforcing advanced operator readiness. Later, as a Director of Programs, he played a key role in the development of the initial ADC MK5 submarine-launched torpedo countermeasure. He successfully captured and led execution of multiple UUV programs of record. He then pioneered a revolutionary micro-UUV architecture—modular, open-source, 3D-printed, and priced as low as $10K. These UUVs democratized access to autonomous undersea experimentation, supporting innovation efforts across Warfare Centers, academia, and industry. Under his leadership, the platform scaled from 4.875” to 12.75” diameters, enabling payload flexibility and performance scaling. Recently, Mr. Smith assembled a high-performance team that rapidly captured multiple programs aligned to submarine training and future capability development. These include the MK39 EMATT, the MK66 Heavyweight Underwater Training Target, and DARPA’s Learning Introspective Controller, an AI/ML-based autonomy architecture. He also led development of a new platform under ONR’s Full Spectrum Undersea Warfare initiative, reinforcing his central role in shaping the Navy’s next-generation undersea vehicle ecosystem.
Mr. Jeff Smith is most deserving of recognition by the Naval Submarine League to receive the Vice Admiral Charles Momsen Award for Submarine Professional Innovation.
Vice Admiral Charles Momsen began duty in the submarine service as Executive Officer of USS O-13 in 1922 and ended duty in 1953 as Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Fleet. In 1928, he created the submarine escape lung, a wearing breathing device that would come to be known as the "Momsen Lung.” For this development, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, with citation which states in part:
"During the early stages of its (the Lung's) design and development (he)...courageously, repeatedly and voluntarily risked his life in conducting experiments of a nature such that there was little or no information available as to their probable results. In the later tests of the device, when escapes were made from USS S-4 submerged to depths as much as 206 feet, he was not only the first person to venture the escape but also the leading and guiding spirit in all subsequent ones..."
In 1944, eight submariners survived the sinking of USS TANG (SS 306) by wearing Momsen lungs. Lieutenant Commander Charles “Swede” Momsen conceived the idea for a rescue chamber after USS S-51 (SS 162) was lost in a collision in 1925. Only three of the submarine’s 37 crew members escaped before it sank. In 1926, Momsen proposed the adoption of a diving bell for submarine rescue purposes to the Bureau of Construction and Repair. Then in December 1927, USS S-4 (SS 109) sank off Provincetown, Massachusetts, after being accidentally rammed by a Coast Guard destroyer. S-4’s crew survived the sinking but ran out of air as Navy divers worked desperately to reach them. The incident revived the diving bell project.
Under Momsen’s direction, the Bureau of Construction and Repair began developing the diving bell in 1928. After extensive bell testing and experimenting, Momsen was reassigned within the Bureau to design an underwater breathing apparatus for submarine escape — what became his most famous invention, the Momsen lung. The Bureau placed Lieutenant Commander Allan McCann in charge of the design revisions Momsen had planned for the rescue chamber. McCann directed the development of the chamber for a year and a half; once completed in 1930, the bell was introduced by the Navy as the McCann rescue chamber.