Page 6: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (December 1977)

Navy Commissions Ninth Of 30 Destroyers

Being Built By Ingalls Shipbuilding

USS David R. Ray, DD-971, is powered by gas turbine engines and maintains speeds in excess of 30 knots.

The ninth of the new Spruance class of 30 multi-mission destroy- ers, designed and being built by

Ingalls Shipbuilding division of

Litton Industries, Pascagoula,

Miss., was commissioned by the

Navy on Saturday, November 19.

The USS David R. Ray (DD- 971), named in honor of a young hospital corpsman who was killed in Vietnam while treating wound- ed marines, officially became a part of the Navy's Pacific Fleet during the ceremony. The 563- foot, 7,800-ton ship is among the largest class of U.S. destroyers ever built. The ship is powered by four gas turbine engines and maintains speeds in excess of 30 knots.

Corpsman Ray, the son of Mr. and Mrs. David F. Ray of McMinn- ville, Tenn., was killed in 1969.

Though seriously wounded when a large enemy force attacked his encampment, Corpsman Ray re- fused medical treatment and con- tinued treating wounded marines.

He was forced to battle two enemy soldiers, killing one and wounding the other, and then continued treating the wounded, while alternately fighting off the enemy. In a final act of heroism,

Corpsman Ray saved the life of a marine he was treating by throw- ing himself on the man as an enemy grenade exploded close by.

He was posthumously awarded the

Medal of Honor, the nation's high- est military award for heroism.

In addition to the first nine ships of the Spruance class which have been delivered to the Navy,

Ingalls has launched 10 additional destroyers, and the remaining 11 are in various stages of com- pletion. The Spruance ships now serving with the fleet have be- come well-known for their re- sponsiveness, maneuverability, re- liability, quiet operation and weapons accuracy.

The David R. Ray is primarily an antisubmarine weapon system, but the ship can also be assigned to bombard shore positions, sup- port amphibious assaults, escort military and merchant ship con- voys, perform surveillance and tracking of hostile surface ships, establish blockades and under- take search and rescue operations.

For global operations, the new destroyers are capable of navi- gation by satellites. Using data transmitted continually from the

Navy Navigation Satellite Sys- tem, a shipboard computer auto- matically solves worldwide navi- gation problems to an extremely accurate degree, 24 hours a day, regardless of weather.

Armament on the ship consists of two 5-inch/54 caliber guns, an antisubmarine rocket launching group, torpedo tubes and anti- submarine helicopters.

Comdr. Edward B. Baker Jr., a native of Detroit, Mich., was named commander of the ship at the commissioning ceremony. The principal speaker was U.S. Sena- tor Jim Sasser (D-Tenn.). Others participating in the ceremony in- cluded Leonard Erb, vice presi- dent of Litton Industries, and president of Ingalls Shipbuilding;

Rear Adm. Roy F. Hoffman, Com- mandant, Sixth Naval District; and Capt. William E. McGarrah, supervisor of shipbuilding, Pasca- goula.

Financial Aid Sought

To Build Three Vessels

Totaling $9 Million

The Maritime Administration has received applications from three associated partnerships to aid in financing the construction of three 4,800-shaft-horsepower ocean tug/supply vessels. They will be capable of towing drilling rigs from one drilling site to an- other, and of carrying water, fuel, oil, bulk and deck cargo. The dimensions of each vessel will be 195 feet by 40 feet by 16 feet.

The applicants are Ocean Ma- rine Services Partnership No. 3,

No. 4 and No. 5, all of 4350 South

Wayside, Houston, Texas. The general partners in each of the three partnerships are Ocean

Tarpon, Inc.-1977; Ocean Fin,

Inc.-1977; and Ocean Bonita, Inc.- 1977.

The proposed builder of the three ships is American Marine

Corp., New Orleans, La. The es- timated cost of the vessels is ap- proximately $3 million each. They are scheduled for delivery in Feb- ruary, May and July 1979, re- spectively.

Two Tug/Supply Vessels

Costing Over $5 Million

To Be Built By Halter

The U.S. Department of Com- merce, Maritime Administration, has announced that the Assist- ant Secretary has approved in principle the application by Aca- dian Polar Marine, Ltd., Suite 1515, 225 Baronne Street, New

Orleans, La., for a Title XI guar- antee to aid in financing the con- struction of two 4,200-horsepower tug/supply vessels.

The vessels are identical and will measure approximately 216 feet in overall length, 44 feet abeam, and 16 feet in depth.

They will be built by Halter Ma- rine Services, Inc. of New Or- leans.

The owner plans to operate the vessels in the Gulf of Mexico,

Bethlehem Steel Corporation laid the keel for a 27,340-dead- weight-ton containership for Far- rell Lines at its Sparrows Point,

Baltimore, Md., shipyard on No- vember 9, and for the first time in more than five years began to build a ship on the inclined ways.

The 1,200-foot-long building basin, completed in 1971, which has been used recently for all shipbuilding §t the yard, already contains a Farrell Lines vessel under construction, as well as a bow section for a tanker being built at Newport News. There would not be space for another ship.

Thus, this second Farrell Lines vessel will be launched by sliding down the ways next summer, a spectacle not seen at the yard since the launching of a contain- ership in December 1973.

Caribbean, and Atlantic Ocean in support of the oil and gas ex- ploration and production industry.

They will be used to transport personnel and dry and liquid car- goes to and from offshore facili- ties and to perform ocean towing chores.

The estimated actual cost of the vessels is about $2.6 million each. The estimated delivery dates are June 12, 1978, and Au- gust 7, 1978.

Naval Architecture

School Proposed For

New Orleans University

The Louisiana Shipbuilding and

Repair Association has endorsed a proposal from The Propeller

Club of New Orleans to establish a school of naval architecture at the University of New Orleans and a model testing basin in the

New Orleans area.

Rear Adm. W.H. Livingston,

USN (ret.), president of the as- sociation, said that all 24 Louisi- ana shipyards in the organization are "solidly behind this project."

The Farrell vessels are being constructed at an estimated cost of $78.3 million each, with a Mar- itime Administration construction differential subsidy of $39.8 mil- lion.

The ships will be 813-feet 3-inches overall, 769 feet between perpendiculars, with a molded beam of 90 feet. Their design sea speed will be 22.5 knots. Their turbines are rated at 28,500 shaft horsepower.

Each vessel will be capable of carrying, at the 33-foot draft, 1,708 containers, of which 768 may be refrigerated. Space is pro- vided for unitized cargo, and tanks will carry 3,100 barrels of liquid cargo.

When completed, the vessels will go into service for Farrell

Lines between U.S. ports on the

Atlantic and Gulf Coasts and

Australia and New Zealand.

Bethlehem Steel Sparrows Point Lays Keel

For $78-Million Farrell Lines Containership

FARRELL LINES INC f M.A.HULL 322

CONTAINER UNITIZED CARGO SHIP

KEFL I AID NOV, 9. 1977 m

BETHLEHEM STEEL CORPOSaTION HULL N« 4651

SPARROWS POINT VARD —ITi dfilismmMHM

Norman S. Smith of Bethlehem Steel and Thomas J. Sartor Jr. of Farrell Lines stand in front of first keel section for a containership for Farrell, just after it was laid on the ways at Bethlehem's Sparrows Point Yard. Mr. Smith is general super- intendent of the yard, and Mr. Sartor is marine superintendent of Farrell Lines. 8 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News