Posted on 04/26/2009 5:27:28 AM PDT by Peter Horry
The guided-missile destroyer Truxtun was commissioned into the U.S. Navy under a beaming blue sky Saturday, welcomed in as the most advanced warship in the world today.
But, for all her modern bells and whistles, some of the day's speakers just couldn't get away from talking about pirates.
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead noted that when the ship's namesake Commodore Thomas Truxtun built his career in America's infancy, pirates were as much a problem on the high seas as they have been recently.
"We continue to fight the scourge of piracy," Roughhead told several thousand sailors, guests and their families gathered long the secure banks of the Cooper River at the Naval Weapons Station in Goose Creek.
(Excerpt) Read more at charleston.net ...
Since we don’t have any ships stationed there anymore I wonder why they commissioned in Charleston?
I think the Navy has a policy of holding commissionings in various port cities for public relations reasons.
Remember the Old F-4 phantoms made without GUNS? That didn’t work and they had to retrofit with gatlings ASAP.
These new ships need GUNS to go after pirates on shore or at sea. Bring back the good old 5”-38!
For those interested this is some information on the Naval Weapons Station http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Weapons_Station_Charleston and this is some information on ship commissionings http://www.navyleague.org/councils/ShipCommissioningGuide.pdf
“These new ships need GUNS to go after pirates on shore or at sea. Bring back the good old 5”-38”
I agree with you, I like guns, I like BIG guns (16” big), the Navy, several years ago, was developing a 10” gun to mount on cruisers, but decided to scrape it. Guns are still more efficient and project a presence that missiles fail to match.
One thing has changed since the days of Commodore Truxtun, we now have a president who has no will or desire to defend America and will instead appease and negotiate with terrorists and despots.
She was built in Pascagula and her home port is Norfolk. Why would the commissioning take place in Charleston?
This flight of Arleigh Burke destroyers carries the 5"/62 Mark 45 Mod 4.
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