He was the ship's signalman, a M-60 Machine Gun Operator, Combat Information Center Watch Officer, and Visit, Board, Search and Seizure (VBSS) Team Member on USS FIREBOLT (PC 10) deployed to the Arabian Gulf in the Spring of 2004.  On 24 April 2004, the first day of patrols inside the territorial waters, FIREBOLT was tasked with maintaining an established exclusion zone around the Kwahr al Amaya Oil Terminal by querying vessels and approaching as necessary to direct them clear.  Upon arrival in their assigned station, over 15 unknown vessels were operating inside the exclusion zone with the majority of vessels appearing to be common fishing dhows.   Within the first hour of operations, the security team successfully cleared over 10 unauthorized vessels from the areas closest to the oil terminal and was beginning to expand the operation into the outer areas of the exclusion zone.  An unidentified dhow was detected by the boarding team traveling along a course that would take it in close to the oil terminal and the RHIB was maneuvered to query and intercept.   At intercept, the dhow did not answer bridge-to-bridge queries, was unresponsive to loud-hailer directions, and maintained a direct course for the terminal.  Abruptly, the dhow altered course toward the FIREBOLT RHIB and exploded at close range, violently throwing the security team into the water and overturning the RHIB.  Petty Officer Watts had been forward in the RHIB to observe the actions of the dhow and operator and received shrapnel injuries as he was thrown into the water.  Soon after the explosion alongside the FIREBOLT RHIB, two other explosives-laden vessels attempted to close the nearby Al Basra Oil Terminal but were disabled by crew-served weapons fire from the alerted security forces on the terminals.  Petty Officer Watts was pulled from the water by rescue teams from FIREBOLT and the Australian Frigate Stuart, but died of his wounds less than two hours after the blast.  The actions of Petty Officer Christopher Watts and his security team prevented a large scale environmental disaster and a strategic blow to the coalition forces that would have been caused by damage to the oil pipeline or destruction of the offshore oil terminals.