Clean sweep (naval)

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A "clean sweep" for a naval vessel refers to having "swept the enemy from the seas," a completely successful mission. It is traditionally indicated by hanging a broom from a mast or lashing it to the shears of a submarine.

[edit] History

The United States Submarine Service during World War II generally considered a patrol a "clean sweep" if the submarine sank every target she engaged. (Individual torpedoes might miss, and convoys usually had far too many ships for all to be sunk by a single boat, but these unavoidable inefficiencies did not mar a "clean sweep.")

[edit] Recent variations

Few wide-ranging war patrols have been conducted since World War II, so commanding officers have taken other opportunities to fly brooms. For example, in the year 2000 the Military Sealift Command hung a broom from the flagpole yardarm outside their headquarters to symbolize its "clean sweep" of the Y2k bug on all the command's ships[1].

In 2003 under circumstances perhaps closer to the traditional context, after USS Cheyenne (SSN-773) launched her Tomahawk missiles during Operation Iraqi Freedom[2], her commanding officer decided that placing all missiles on target, with no duds or failures, was a modern "clean sweep."

In contrast, the commanding officers of USS Ohio (SSGN-726) in 2005[3] and USS Virginia (SSN-774) in 2006[4] felt that completion of Alpha sea trials, indicating those vessels' basic seaworthiness, qualified them to fly the broom.