Submarine Tender McKee (AS-41) Launched At Lockheed-Seattle

The 23,000-ton submarine tender McKee, last of three of the 644-foot auxiliary ships Lockheed Shipbuilding is constructing for the U.S. Navy, was recently launched at Seattle, Wash.

Mrs. Ingeborg von Finckh McKee, widow of Rear Adm. Andrew Irwin McKee, christened the ship before it slid down Lockheed's shipway on Harbor Island into the West Waterway of the Duwamish.

Tugs immediately moved in to tow the ship to Lockheed's Yard 2, in West Seattle, for outfitting. The McKee, expected to be delivered to the U.S. Navy in the summer of 1981, will join sisterships Emory S. Land (AS-39) and Frank Cable (AS-40), which were delivered in 1979.

Keel-laying ceremonies for the McKee followed the January 14, 1978, launch of the Frank Cable. The name of the ship honors Rear Adm. Andrew Irwin McKee, pioneer of modern submarine design and development.

Congressman Joel Pritchard was the principal speaker in the launch ceremonies that preceded the christening of the McKee. The matron of honor for the christening program was Mrs. Jane Fryer, sister of Admiral McKee.

Flower girl for the ceremony was Miss Cacey Zimmer, daughter of C.M. Zimmer, submarine tender welding superintendent.

G. Graham Whipple, Group vice president- Lockheed Corporation, served as master of ceremonies, while Roy A. Anderson, chairman of the board of directors, Lockheed Corporation, introduced the principal speaker.

Stanley E. Jensen, general vice president, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, represented labor in the ceremonies. Rear Adm. F.F. Manganaro, Vice Commander, Naval Sea Systems Command, also addressed the crowd of employees, Navy people, and others that gathered for the ceremonies.

The 13th Naval District Color Guard Band provided music. The Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps, University of Washington, supplied the color guard. Capt. Oliver Wetzel, Chaplain, 13th Naval District, gave the invocation.

Instructions to the sponsor were handled by Capt. S.P. Passantino, supervisor of shipbuilding, Seattle, and John N. Watt, director of marketing, Lockheed Shipbuilding.

The three submarine tenders rank among the largest Naval ships to be built in the Northwest. Together, the three ships represent approximately a half billion dollars in shipbuilding contracts. Some 2,000 persons presently work at the Lockheed yards. While the company carries on active ship overhauls, repairs, and commercial steel businesses, the submarine tender work has represented the bulk of the company's activities.

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