Page 9: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 2002)

Navy Christens New

Guided Missile Destroyer

The newest Arleigh Burke class guid- ed missile destroyer, Pinckney (DDG 91), was christened during a ceremony at Northrop Grumman Ship Systems in

Pascagoula, Miss, on June 29, 2002.

The ship's namesake is in honor of

Navy Cook Third Class William Pinck- ney, (1915-1975), recipient of the Navy

Cross for his courageous rescue of a fel- low crewmember onboard the USS

Enterprise (CV 6) during the WWII Bat- tle of Santa Cruz. When an explosion killed four of the six men at his battle station in an ammunition handling room,

Pinckney and the other surviving sailor attempted to exit through a hatch to the hangar deck above. In honor of his heroism, Pinckney was awarded the

Navy Cross.

Pinckney is the 41st ship of a planned production run of 63 vessels. These multi-mission ships conduct sustained combat operations at sea, providing pri- mary protection for the Navy's aircraft carriers and battle groups, as well as essential escort to Navy and Marine

Corps amphibious forces and auxiliary ships, and independent operations as necessary. DDG 91 will be capable of fighting air, surface, and subsurface bat- tles simultaneously. The ship contains myriad offensive and defensive weapons designed to support maritime defense needs well into the 21 st century.

The 9,300-ton Pinckney measures 509.5 ft. (155.2 m), has a waterline beam of 59 ft. (17.9 m), an overall beam of 66.5 ft. (20.2 m), and a navigational draft of 31.9 ft. (9.7 m) Four gas turbine propulsion plants will power the ship to speeds above 30 knots.

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Northrop Grumman

Delivers USNS Brittin

USNS Brittin (T-AKR 305), the sixth of seven Bob Hope-class strategic sealift ships being built by Northrop Grumman

Corporation's Ship Systems sector, was delivered to the U.S. Navy at the compa- ny's Avondale Operations in New

Orleans on July 12.

Participating in the delivery were rep- resentatives of the Naval Sea Systems

Command (NAVSEA), the supervisor of shipbuilding, conversion and repair,

New Orleans, and Ship Systems offi- cials.

Delivery took place following Brittin's integrated sea trials, which combined the formerly separate builder's and Navy

Acceptance Trials into one evolution.

For the first time, Northrop Grumman

Ship Systems' New Orleans and

Pascagoula, Miss., facilities were uti- lized for a sea trial. Subsequently, the ship will remain at Avondale for several weeks of crew training before departing for its homeport in Norfolk, Va.

Measuring 950-ft. (289.5 m), the large,

New & Notable medium-speed. RoRo ships, which are among the largest in the Navy's Fleet are designed and constructed with more than 380,000 sq. ft. of cargo capacity and are capable of carrying up to 1,000 military wheeled or tracked vehicles and other cargo.

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