Posted on 01/13/2004 11:24:28 AM PST by Holly_P
PASCAGOULA, Miss. (AP) -- The U.S. Navy has taken possession of its 19th Aegis-guided missile destroyer, the USS Pinckney.
The ceremony was held Monday aboard the ship at the Northrup Grumman Ship Systems' operations along the west bank of the Pascagoula River.
Cmdr. Robert M. Byron of Asheville, N.C., will be the new ship's commissioning commanding officer.
"Thousands of shipbuilders dedicated their efforts to produce the absolute best of American industrial capability," Byron told the Monday ceremony. "Thousands of people worked hard to make this day happen; to give this brilliant technological achievement a pulse."
The Pinckney has two vertical launching systems capable of housing a variety of missiles. It also has two triple torpedo tubes and advanced radar systems.
The ship was named for Navy Cook 3rd Class William Pinckney, (1915-1975), recipient of the Navy Cross for saving a fellow crew member aboard an aircraft carrier during the 1942 Battle of Santa Cruz.
According to Navy records, 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.
When the other man grasped the scorching hatch, he fell back unconscious. Despite the suffocating smoke, flames, and gasoline fumes surrounding him, Pinckney carried the sailor to safety.
The Pinckney is the 41st ship in the Arleigh Burke Class of Aegis guided missile destroyers and the 19th Aegis destroyer to be launched and christened at the former Ingalls Shipyard.
"We at Northrop Grumman are as proud of this ship as any we have built," said Bob Merchent, vice president of the destroyer program. "When this ship takes her place in the fleet, we know we have met the trust placed in us by the Navy and the American people."
The ship will leave Pascagoula in two months for California, a two-month cruise. It will spend another year testing weapons and computer systems.
The destroyer will be commissioned USS Pinckney on May 29 in Port Hueneme, Calif., and will be homeported in San Diego as a member of the Pacific Fleet's Destroyer Squadron 23.
Northrup Grumman Ship Systems includes primary operations in Pascagoula, Gulfport, New Orleans and Tallulah, La., as well as a network of fleet support offices in the U.S. and Japan.
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