Seventh Ingalls-built LHD amphibious assault ship
SON OF SURIBACHI FLAG RAISER TO DELIVER PRINCIPAL ADDRESS FOR IWO JIMA (LHD 7) CHRISTENING AT INGALLS SHIPBUILDING ON MARCH 25

PASCAGOULA, Mississippi - LHD 7, the U.S. Navy's newest large-deck multipurpose amphibious assault ship will be christened "IWO JIMA" during patriotic ceremonies next Saturday, March 25, 2000, at Litton Ingalls Shipbuilding, a Litton Ship Systems company.

LHD 7 will become the second U.S. Navy amphibious warship named to honor the enduring legacy of the heroic participants in the 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima, one of the most costly battles of the Pacific campaign of World War II.

Delivering the principal christening address will be James J. Bradley, of Rye, New York, the son of Pharmacist's Mate Second Class John H. Bradley, USN. Corpsman Bradley, who earned the Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism on Iwo Jima, as well as the Purple Heart, was the longest living survivor among the six men shown in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Associated Press photo of a large American flag being raised over Mount Suribachi. That memorable image has come to symbolize the epic struggle during which more than 6,000 United States Marines lost their lives in taking the island from the Japanese, whose losses were estimated at about 20,000. Corpsman Bradley died in 1994, at age 70.

Several hundred veterans of the battle, as well as former crewmembers of USS IWO JIMA (LPH 2), who will be in nearby Mobile, Alabama, for a reunion, will be on hand at Ingalls for Saturday's christening.

Joining Bradley as a christening speaker will be U.S. Representative Gene Taylor of Mississippi's Fifth Congressional District, the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee's Military Facilities and Installations Subcommittee.

In a time-honored maritime tradition as Ship's Sponsor, Zandra M. Krulak, of Greenville, Delaware, wife of General Charles C. Krulak, USMC (Ret.), former Commandant of the Marine Corps, will christen the new ship by breaking the traditional bottle of champagne across LHD 7's bow. Serving as the Sponsor's Matrons of Honor will be her daughters-in-law, Elizabeth "Libby" Parsons Krulak, of Pensacola, Florida, and Mrs. Carolyn Penrose Krulak, of Wheaton, Illinois.

The public is invited to attend the 11 a.m. ceremony at Ingalls' facilities on the west bank of the Pascagoula River. Bus transportation will be provided between the shipyard's west bank parking lot and the ceremony site. Guests are requested to be at Ingalls by 10 a.m.

Other ceremony participants will include Vice Admiral Henry C. Giffin III, USN, Commander, Naval Surface Force, U. S. Atlantic Fleet; Vice Admiral George P. Nanos, USN, Commander Naval Sea Systems Command; Lieutenant General Michael J. Williams, USMC, Deputy Chief of Staff, Programs & Resources; Paul A. Schneider, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Research, Development & Acquisition; Rear Admiral Dennis G. Morral, USN, Program Executive Officer Expeditionary Warfare; Captain Harry J. Rucker Jr., USN, Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion & Repair, Pascagoula; Jerry St. Pé, Chief Operating Officer, Litton Ship Systems and Executive Vice President, Litton Industries; and Pat Keene, President, Litton Ingalls Shipbuilding.

Music for Saturday's ceremony will be provided by the United States Navy Band, New Orleans, Louisiana. Two drill teams from the Gulfport High School Marine Corps Junior ROTC unit, The Commandant's Choice (male cadets) and Precision in Motion (female cadets), will also participate in the ceremony. Lieutenant Randy Williams, CHC, USN, Chaplain, Naval Station Pascagoula, will deliver the ceremony's invocation.

LHD 7 is second in size only to the Navy's aircraft carriers, and is designed to transport the Navy/Marine Corps team by the sea to a land battle, and support the effort, primarily as the command ship of an Amphibious Ready Group. LHDs are specifically designed to deploy to a troubled area of the world, and insert forces ashore by helicopters and 40 m.p.h. LCAC hover craft. IWO JIMA will enhance this capability by deploying the new Osprey (MV-22) tiltrotor aircraft. LHDs are fully capable of amphibious assault, advance force and special purpose operations, as well as noncombatant evacuation and other humanitarian missions.

LHDs embark, transport, deploy, command and fully support a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) of almost 2,000 Marines. For operational support, the ship carries its own squadron of AV- 8B Harrier II jets, as well as a full range of Navy/Marine Corps helicopters, amphibious vehicles and tanks. Additionally, the ships are fully-equipped with command and control (C 4 I) systems for flagship command duty, and have medical facilities -- including a 600-bed hospital -- second only to the Navy's Hospital Ships in capability.

LHD 7 is 844 feet long, with a 106-foot beam. Two steam propulsion plants, developing a combined 70,000 horsepower, will drive the 40,500-ton ship to speeds in excess of 20 knots. The ship has living areas for nearly 3,200 crewmembers and embarked troops, including accommodations for nearly 450 female officers, chiefs and enlisted personnel.

LHD 7 will enter service with the U.S. Atlantic Fleet when commissioned in mid-2001. Captain John T. Nawrocki, USN, a native of Ambridge, Pennsylvania, and a 1975 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, has been selected as LHD 7's Prospective Commanding Officer.

The first six Ingalls-built ships in the LHD program are already in the Fleet. One of these ships, USS KEARSARGE (LHD 3), served as the rescue ship for 1995's successful return of Air Force Captain Scott O'Grady from Serbian-held territory in Bosnia.

Iwo Jima, which means "sulfur island," was strategically important as an air base for fighter escorts supporting long-range bombing missions against mainland Japan. Because of the distance between mainland Japan and U.S. bases in the Mariana Islands, the capture of Iwo Jima would provide an emergency landing strip for crippled B-29s returning from bombing runs. The seizure of Iwo Jima would allow for sea and air blockades, the ability to conduct intensive air bombardment and to destroy the enemy's air and naval capabilities.

The ground assault of Iwo Jima began on the morning of February 19, 1945, when troops of the Marine 4th and 5th Divisions landed ashore and moved inland about 300 yards. The fighting continued until March 16, when the island was declared secure. The fighting that took place during the assault would be immortalized in the words of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, at the time Commander, Pacific Fleet/Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas, who said, "By their victory, the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions and other units of the Fifth Amphibious Corps have made an accounting to their country which only history will be able to value fully. Among the Americans who served on Iwo Island, uncommon valor was a common virtue."

The first ship named for the battle, LPH 2, was the lead ship of the LPH class of amphibious assault ships, built as the first "keel-up" amphibious assault ship. Among the ship's proud accomplishments, on April 17, 1970, LPH 2 served as the primary recovery ship for the return of the crew of Apollo 13. HS-4 helicopters from LPH 2 recovered the three Apollo 13 astronauts from the South Pacific.

In August 1990, two weeks after the initial deployment of troops to the Persian Gulf for Operation Desert Shield, USS IWO JIMA became the first amphibious assault ship to deploy to that area and helped military forces which ultimately would be used to drive Iraqi forces from Kuwait. LPH 2 was decommissioned in 1993.