Page 52: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (February 1991)

The USS Chosin , the 13th of 19 Ticonderoga Class Aegis guided missile cruisers built for the

U.S. Navy by Ingalls Shipbuilding division of Litton in Pascagoula, Miss., sails through the

Gulf of Mexico during predelivery sea trials.

USS Chosin Joins Pacific Fleet — 13th Aegis Cruiser By Ingalls

The USS Chosin (CG 65), the 13th Aegis guided missile cruiser to be built for the U.S. Navy by Ingalls

Shipbuilding division of Litton, re- cently joined the U.S. Pacific Fleet after being commissioned at the shipyard last month.

The Navy and Ingalls invited the general public to attend the ceremo- ny, and to participate in guided tours aboard the CG 65 immediately following the commissioning at the company's facilities on the west bank of the Pascagoula River.

Gen. Raymond G. Davis,

USMC (ret.), delivered the princi- pal address at the commissioning.

General Davis earned the Congres- sional Medal of Honor as a lieuten- ant colonel during the 1st Marine

Division's historic fight to breakout, during the bitter-cold winter of 1950, from a Chinese Communist encirclement at the Chosin Reser- voir during the Korean War, the battle for which CG 65 is named.

There, against overwhelming odds, he led his battalion in a four- day battle which saved a rifle com- pany from annihilation, and opened a mountain pass for the escape of two trapped Marine regiments.

Some 400 members of "The Chosin

Few," an organization of the survi- vors of the breakout at Chosin, were on hand for the commissioning. The general's wife, Willa, served as ship's sponsor for the USS Chosin, and participated in the commission- ing ceremony. As sponsor, Mrs.

Davis christened the ship with the traditional bottle of champagne during ceremonies at Ingalls in

October 1989.

Also participating in the commis- sioning were Adm. John W. Ny- quist, USN, Assistant Chief of

Naval Operations, Surface Warfare;

Vice Adm. Peter M. Hekman Jr.,

USN, Commander, Naval Sea Sys- tems Command; Vice Adm. David

M. Bennett, USN, Commander,

Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific

Fleet; Rear Adm. John T. Hood,

USN, Aegis Shipbuilding Program

Manager; Capt. R. Bruce Wood- ruff, USN, Supervisor of Ship- building, Conversion and Repair,

Pascagoula; and Jerry St. Pe, se- nior vice president of Litton Indus- tries and president of Ingalls Ship- building. Col. Charles R. Fris- sell, USAF, Staff Chaplain, Keesler

Air Force Base in Biloxi, Miss., offered the invocation.

Capt. Martin J. Mayer, USN, assumed command of the USS Cho- sin, with Lt. Comdr. Michael A.

LeMieux, USN, as his executive officer.

The CG 65 joins the fleet as one of the U.S. Navy's most capable battle group surface combatants. Her Ae- gis Combat System is an extensive integration of electronic detection, engagement and control equipment, which provides the ship with truly multimission capabilities. Four fixed array radar antennae, mounted on the ship's superstruc- ture, replace conventional rotating radars, enabling the ship and her crew to scan in all directions simul- taneously. The CG 65 is also equip- ped with the MK 41 Vertical

I

BIRD AWAY—A standard surface-to-air mis- sile is fired from the forward missile maga- zine aboard the USS Chosin during predeliv- ery sea trials.

Launching System (VLS). Four GE

LM2500 gas turbine engines power the 9,500-ton ship to speeds in ex- cess of 30 knots. The vessel is 567 feet long, with a 55-foot beam.

Ingalls, lead shipbuilder for five of the latest classes of Navy surface combatants, has delivered 54 major warships into the Navy's Fleet since 1975, a major portion of the surface combatants delivered during the pe- riod. Twelve Ingalls-built Aegis cruisers have preceded the USS

Chosin into the U.S. Navy's Fleets since 1983. Following CG 65, Ingalls has six additional Aegis cruisers and six Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) Class

Aegis destroyers in various stages of production.

USS Wasp (LHD 1), first of a new class of multipurpose amphibious assault ships being built by Ingalls, was commissioned in July 1989, and construction is well under way on three additional ships of the class,

Essex (LHD 2), Kearsarge (LHD 3) and Boxer (LHD 4).

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