Navy Commissions New Guided Missile Destroyer Stockdale

DefenseLink News Release ^

[SandRat]

The Navy will commission the newest Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer, Stockdale, during an 11:00 a.m. PST ceremony on Saturday, April 18, 2009, in Port Hueneme, Calif.

 

            Designated DDG 106, the new destroyer honors Medal of Honor recipient Vice Adm. James Bond Stockdale (1923-2005), the legendary leader of American prisoners of war (POWs) during the Vietnam War.

 

            Stockdale was the highest-ranking naval officer ever held as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. His plane was shot down Sept. 9, 1965, while flying combat missions over North Vietnam. Stockdale spent more than seven years in captivity at prisons in North Vietnam, including time at the infamous “Hanoi Hilton.” Four of those years were spent in solitary confinement. While imprisoned, Stockdale is credited with organizing a set of rules to govern the behavior of fellow prisoners of war and for helping to develop a code for prisoners to communicate with each other that included tapping on cell walls. In recognition of his leadership and sacrifice he was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1976.

 

            Stockdale received 26 combat medals and awards, including two Distinguished Flying Crosses, three Distinguished Service Medals, two Purple Hearts and four Silver Stars. He was also named to the Aircraft Carrier Hall of Fame, National Aviation Hall of Fame, and was an honorary member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.

 

            Commander, U.S. Pacific Command, Adm. Timothy Keating, will deliver the ceremony's principal address. Sybil Stockdale will serve as sponsor of the ship named for her late husband. The ceremony will be highlighted by a time-honored Navy tradition when she gives the first order to “man our ship and bring her to life!”

 

            Stockdale is the 56th of 62 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. The ship will be able to conduct a variety of operations, from peacetime presence and crisis management to sea control and power projection. Stockdale will be capable of fighting air, surface and subsurface battles simultaneously and contains a myriad of offensive and defensive weapons designed to support maritime warfare in keeping with “A Cooperative Strategy for 21^st Century Seapower,” the new maritime strategy that postures the sea services to apply maritime power to protect U.S. vital interests in an increasingly interconnected and uncertain world.  

 

            Cmdr. Fred W. Kacher, of Oakton, Va., will become the first commanding officer of the ship and will lead the crew of 276 officers and enlisted personnel.  The 9,200-ton Stockdale was built by Bath Iron Works, a General Dynamics Company. The ship is 509 feet in length, has a waterline beam of 59 feet, and a navigational draft of 31 feet. Four gas turbine engines will power the ship to speeds in excess of 30 knots.  

 

            For more information on Arleigh Burke class destroyers, visit

http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4200&tid=900&ct=4 .

 

[ConorMacNessa]

Lamh Foistenach Abu!

[areukiddingme1]

A real American hero died on July 5, 2005, retired Navy Vice Admiral James Bond Stockdale. He died at his home in Coronado, California. He was 81. What an amazing man he was. Our country has lost a great one. A great one. Gone but not forgotten! http://www.admiralstockdale.com/

[Dick Bachert]

The ever-munificent and arrogant Obambi is not to be outdone in the naval arena.

Armed with a single MA-2 .50 caliber Browning, this much feared naval vessel carries up to 30 rounds of armor piercing ammunition. It is the first in an entirely new naval architecture being pushed on the Pentagon by the defense minded Obama Administration as a cost-saving measure. If you look closely, you can see the heavy-duty seat restraint which prevents the pilot/gunner – Kamakazi Kowalski – from leaping from the vessel prior to engaging the enemy. The 12 V trolling motor – which lacks a reverse function -- propels this sophisticated craft forward at a top speed of 4 knots. Reverse travel – at approximately 35 knots -- is achieved by firing the Browning.

The no-bid contract to build 200 of these fearsome warships was recently awarded to Obama-Soros-Emanuel Shipbuilding and Stormdoor Manufacturing (formerly General Dynamics) and will be administered by trusted Obama associate and Chief-of-Staff Rahm Emanuel who commented that, at $12 million each, they are a bargain. They will be constructed exclusively at the company’s facility in Kenya with major subcomponent production (rivets and miscellaneous fasteners) at the company’s Harlem and Skokie plants. Delivery is expected to begin in 2024 (or as soon as the subcontractor's funds are safely in the contractor's Swiss account).

[50cal Smokepole]

Yes! I like to see this. (I was involved as a sub-contractor.)

[Jeff Head]

Beautiful, powerful vessel...named the way a fighting ship should be named

"Leadership must be based on goodwill. Goodwill does not mean posturing and, least of all, pandering to the mob. It means obvious and wholehearted commitment to helping followers. We are tired of leaders we fear, tired of leaders we love, and tired of leaders who let us take liberties with them. What we need for leaders are men of the heart who are so helpful that they, in effect, do away with the need of their jobs. But leaders like that are never out of a job and never out of followers. Strange as it sounds, great leaders gain authority by giving it away." Admiral James B. Stockdale

ARLEIGH BURKE CLASS AEGIS GUIDED MISSILE DESTOYERS

[catbertz]

Now that’s a good lookin’ ship!

[saganite]

Wow, that one must have slipped under the Obama military budget cut radars.

[merry10]

Probably not. It takes a more than three months to build a destroyer.