USS LASSEN, INGALLS-BUILT AEGIS DESTROYER,<br> SETS COMMISSIONING ON APRIL 21, 2001

At Tampa, Florida
USS LASSEN, INGALLS-BUILT AEGIS DESTROYER,
SETS COMMISSIONING ON APRIL 21, 2001

USS LASSEN (DDG 82), the newest in a series of advanced Aegis guided missile destroyers built for the U.S. Navy by Litton Ingalls Shipbuilding, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC), in Pascagoula, Mississippi, will be commissioned on Saturday, April 21, 2001, at Channelside Pier in Tampa, Florida.

Ship’s Sponsors Mrs. Linda Barbara Lassen, widow of the ship’s namesake, and Mrs. Barbara Orbon Pilling, wife of Admiral Donald L. Pilling, USN (Ret.), will order DDG 82's more than 300 officers and enlisted personnel to their posts, giving the traditional order to "Man our ship and bring her to life!," in a triumphant conclusion to the ship’s stirringly patriotic commissioning ceremony. More than 3,000 invited guests will be in attendance.

Vice Admiral Edward Moore Jr., USN, Commander, Naval Surface Force, United States Pacific Fleet, will deliver the principal commissioning address, then place USS LASSEN in commission for U.S. Pacific Fleet duty. The ship will be homeported in San Diego as an element of Destroyer Squadron 23. Commander Sean E. O’Connor, USN, a native of Rumson, New Jersey, and a 1983 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, is now in command of the 509.5-foot, 9,300-ton destroyer.

Other commissioning speakers will include: Rear Admiral William W. Cobb, Jr., USN, Program Executive Officer, Theater Surface Combatants; Lieutenant General Michael P. Delong, USMC, Deputy Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Central Command; the honorable Dick A. Greco, Mayor of Tampa, and Jerry St. Pe’, Chief Operating Officer, Northrop Grumman Litton Ship Systems. USS LASSEN (DDG 82) is the 32^nd ship of the DDG 51 program, and the 14^th to be built by Ingalls. Following DDG 82, Ingalls has contracts and options to produce 11 additional Aegis destroyers, with six of those ships in various stages of production.

Construction of DDG 82 began at Ingalls on September 8, 1997. The ship's keel was laid on August 24, 1998 and she was launched on October 16, 1999. DDG 82 sailed into the Gulf of Mexico for her first sea trials on November 14, 2000. The ship was delivered to the Navy by Ingalls on February 5, 2001, and departed Pascagoula on April 13, 2001, headed for her commissioning site in Tampa, Florida.

In naming DDG 82, the United States Navy honors Commander Clyde Everett Lassen, USN, (1942-1994), a native of Fort Myers, Florida, who earned the Medal of Honor for his courageous rescue of two downed aviators while in command of a search and rescue helicopter in Vietnam. On June 19, 1968, Lassen, then a 27-year old Lieutenant flying a UH-2 Seasprite, embarked on a mission to recover two downed naval aviators whose plane had been shot down deep in North Vietnamese territory. Upon reaching the hilly terrain where the aviators were hiding, LT Lassen made several attempts to recover the aviators, but dense tree cover, enemy weapons fire and intermittent illumination frustrated his efforts. Determined to complete his mission, LT Lassen turned on the landing lights of the helicopter, despite the danger of revealing his position to the enemy. After the pilots made their way to the helicopter and with his bullet-riddled helicopter dangerously low on fuel, LT Lassen evaded further antiaircraft fire before landing safely at sea onboard a guided missile destroyer – with only five minutes’ flight time of fuel left in his helicopter’s fuel lines.

The account of the rescue was logged as a successful, routine search and rescue mission. But at the home base for Helicopter Combat Squadron Seven, the rescue flight of June 19, 1968, will always be acclaimed as one of the most daring feats of flying to come out of the Vietnam Conflict.

LT Lassen became the first naval aviator and fifth Navy man to be awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery in Vietnam. His list of decorations include the Air Medal (First Strike/Flight Award); Presidential Unit Citation; Good Conduct Medal; National Defense Service Medal; Vietnam Service Medal with four bronze stars and Vietnam Campaign Medal with Device.

Aegis destroyers are equipped to conduct a variety of missions, from peacetime presence and crisis management to sea control and power projection, in support of national military strategy. These multimission ships provide primary protection for the Navy's aircraft carriers and battle groups, as well as essential escort to Navy and Marine Corps amphibious forces, combat logistics ships and convoys.

DDG 82 carries Tomahawk Cruise missiles, as well as Standard missiles to intercept hostile aircraft and missiles at extended ranges. Both Tomahawk and Standard missiles are launched from forward and aft Vertical Launching Systems (VLS). DDG 82 is also equipped with the Phalanx Close-In Weapons System (CIWS).

USS LASSEN's multimission 5"/62 caliber gun can be used as an anti-ship weapon, close-in point defense or in support of forces ashore with naval surface fire support. It is also capable of firing additional types of ammunition, including a high tech guided ammunition projectile. Its undersea warfare suite is the most advanced system in the world.

Four gas turbine engines power the destroyer to speeds in excess of 30 knots.

DDG 82 is Ingalls’ second Flight IIA Aegis destroyer. The highlight of this major upgrade program is the addition of aircraft hangars that will accommodate two SH-60B helicopters. The new design also features a zonal electrical system, an advanced water purification system, and other shipboard system improvements. Ingalls was responsible for the zonal design, including the new hangars, and their associated compartments, as well as for incorporating the hangars into the total ship design program. The ship’s aircraft handling and support facilities include a dual Recovery Assist, Securing and Traversing (RAST) System, and associated machinery systems providing significantly enhanced helicopter launch and recovery, command and control, and maintenance/repair capabilities. DDG 82 features the over-the-horizon LAMPS MK III Antisubmarine Warfare Control System. In its new configuration, DDG 82 will be assigned two SH-60B Seahawk Undersea Warfare Helicopters.

Ingalls is part of Northrop Grumman Litton Ship Systems (LSS), headquartered in Pascagoula, Mississippi, which also includes the Litton Ship Systems Full Service Center, also located in Pascagoula, as well as Litton Avondale Industries, located in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Gulfport, Mississippi. LSS, which currently employs more than 17,000 shipbuilding professionals, primarily in Mississippi and Louisiana, is one of the nation's leading full service systems companies for the design, engineering, construction, and life cycle support of major surface ships for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard and international navies, and for commercial vessels of all types. LSS has a firm business backlog exceeding $5.2 billion, in a variety of naval and commercial shipbuilding programs.

Northrop Grumman Corporation is a $15 billion, global aerospace and defense company with its worldwide headquarters in Los Angeles. Northrop Grumman provides technologically advanced, innovative products, services and solutions in defense and commercial electronics, systems integration, information technology and non-nuclear shipbuilding and systems. With 80,000 employees and operations in 44 states and 25 countries, Northrop Grumman serves U.S. and international military, government and commercial customers.