Austin native Thomas Murphy was awarded the Department of the Navy, Program Executive Officer, Submarines, 2013 Team Submarine Excellence Award at the Washington Navy Yard.  Murphy is the Principle Assistant Program Manager (PAPM) for the Surface Ship Torpedo Defense (SSTD) within the Undersea Defensive Warfare Systems Program Office (PMS-415).  He is responsible for the overall design, development, cost, schedule, fielding and certification of the SSTD program. The SSTD “family of systems” consists of the Torpedo Warning System (TWS) and the Countermeasure Anti-Torpedo (CAT).

Given direction by the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) to deliver a state-of-the-art  surface ship torpedo defense system to the US Navy in a compressed  timeframe, the SSTD team  under Murphy’s leadership executed a develop, build, test and install program that met the CNO’s goal in 16 months.

Murphy built the SSTD Team from the ground up. As the leader,  he overcame countless financial and programmatic barriers to design, develop, test and install two separate weapons systems on an aircraft carrier within an extremely aggressive schedule.  His final goal of integrating this “Family of Systems” to meet the CNO’s requirement,  was accomplished in May 2013.

In 2013 under Murphy’s leadership, the SSTD Team was recognized for outstanding acquisition achievement and innovation and received the 2013 Coalition for Government Procurement Excellence in Partnership (EIP) Award, as well as the 2013 (third/fourth quarter) Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Excellence Award.

Tom Murphy is the son of Joe and Audrey Murphy of Austin. He entered the Navy in 1976 and retired as a naval aviator in 2006. He graduated from Austin High in 1976, the U.S. Naval Academy in 1983 and the Naval Postgraduate School in 1994. In the fall of 2013, he was named an Austin High Distinguished Graduate.