Honors Naval Hero of the Revolutionary War
NEW AEGIS DESTROYER TO BE CHRISTENED "PREBLE" AT NORTHROP GRUMMAN INGALLS SHIPBUILDING

INGALLS TO CHRISTEN ITS 17TH AEGIS DESTROYER "PREBLE" – DDG 88, the 17th DDG 51 Class Aegis guided missile destroyer to be built by Northrop Grumman Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, passes two other Ingalls-built destroyers, SHOUP (DDG 86) and BULKELEY (DDG 84), following launch on June 1, 2001. DDG 88 will be christened "PREBLE" at Ingalls on Saturday, June 9.

June 1, 2001 — One of the nation’s early naval heroes will be honored on June 9, 2001, when the U.S. Navy’s newest Aegis guided missile destroyer is christened at Ingalls Shipbuilding, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC). The new ship, known now as hull number DDG 88, which was launched at Ingalls this morning, will be officially christened with the name "PREBLE," to honor Commodore Edward Preble, (1761-1807), a pioneer in U.S. naval and merchant marine service.

Mrs. Connie Rae Clark, wife of Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Vernon E. Clark, USN, will splash the traditional bottle of champagne across the new ship’s bow to christen the vessel at the pinnacle of a ceremony to be held at Ingalls’ facilities on the west bank of the Pascagoula River. Mrs. Clark, of Washington, DC, will be joined by three Matrons of Honor: her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Christine Clark, of Phoenix, Arizona; her sister-in-law, Mrs. Elaine Johnson, of Anchorage, Alaska; and Admiral Clark’s cousin, Mrs. Judy Gowan, of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

U.S. Representative Edward L. Schrock, of Virginia’s Second Congressional District, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, will deliver the ceremony’s principal address.

The public is invited to the stirringly patriotic ceremony, which begins at 10 a.m. – one hour earlier than the usual Ingalls ceremony time. Bus transportation will be provided from the shipyard's west bank parking lots to and from the christening site. Guests are requested to be at Ingalls by 9:15 a.m. The United States Navy Band from New Orleans, Louisiana, will entertain guests before and during the ceremony.

Other ceremony participants will include Admiral Clark; Rear Admiral William W. Cobb Jr., USN, Program Executive Officer for Theater Surface Combatants; Rear Admiral David M. Stone, USN, Commander Cruiser Destroyer Group Five; Rear Admiral Jan C. Gaudio, USN, Commander, Navy Region Southeast; Captain Phil Johnson, USN, Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair, Pascagoula; Jerry St. Pé, Chief Operating Officer, Northrop Grumman Ship Systems Sector; and Dave Wright, President, Northrop Grumman Ingalls Shipbuilding.

Reverend Joe Spence, Pastor, Bethel Assembly of God Church in Pascagoula, will deliver the ceremony’s invocation. The Pascagoula High School NJROTC Color Guard will participate in the festivities as well.

PREBLE (DDG 88) is the 38^th ship in the ARLEIGH BURKE (DDG 51) Class of Aegis guided missile destroyers – the U.S. Navy's most powerful destroyer fleet. These highly-capable, multimission ships can conduct a variety of operations, from peacetime presence and crisis management to sea control and power projection, in support of the National Military Strategy.

DDG 88 is the 17^th Aegis destroyer to be launched and christened of 25 ships under contract or option to Ingalls, part of Northrop Grumman’s Ship Systems Sector. Ingalls' first 14 Aegis destroyers have been delivered to the Navy. Two additional ships now in production at Ingalls will precede DDG 88 into the fleet.

The mission of PREBLE will be to conduct sustained combat operations at sea, providing primary protection for the Navy's aircraft carriers and battle groups, as well as essential escort to Navy and Marine Corps amphibious forces and auxiliary ships, and independent operations as necessary. DDG 88 will be capable of fighting air, surface, and subsurface battles simultaneously. The ship contains myriad offensive and defensive weapons designed to support maritime defense needs well into the 21^st century.

The 509.5-foot, 9,300-ton PREBLE has an overall beam of 66.5 feet, and a navigational draft of 31.9 feet. For gas turbine propulsion plants will power the ship to speeds above 31 knots. The ship will be operated by a crew of approximately 383 officers and crewmembers.

Construction of DDG 88 began at Ingalls on September 20, 1999. The ship's keel was laid on June 22, 2000. When completed in 2002, DDG 88 will be homeported in San Diego, California, as an element of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Commander Timothy Batzler, USN, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, and a 1983 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, will take command of the ship upon commissioning next year.

In naming DDG 88 "PREBLE," the United States Navy for the sixth time honors Commodore Preble, who was born August 15, 1761, at Falmouth, Eastern Massachusetts (now Portland, Maine). In 1779, he was appointed to the Massachusetts State Marine, becoming an officer in the 26-gun ship PROTECTOR. Becoming a British prisoner when the ship was captured in 1781, he was held for a time on the prison ship NEW JERSEY. Upon his release, Preble served on WINTHROP, and led a boarding party to capture a British brig at Castine and worked it out to sea despite heavy shore fire.

Fifteen years of merchant service followed his Revolutionary War service and in April 1798 he was appointed First Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. Commanding the Third Squadron in 1803, with CONSTITUTION as his flagship, he sailed for the Barbary Coast where he promoted a treaty with Morocco and established a blockade off Tripoli. Relieved in September 1804, Preble returned to the United States in February 1805, and became engaged in shipbuilding activities at Portland, Maine.

The five previous ships named PREBLE have included an 80-ton Sloop, which was in the squadron of Commodore Thomas MacDonough and took part in the decisive battle of Lake Champlain in 1814; a Sloop-of-War that participated in the Civil War blockades of the Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi River, before being destroyed by fire in Pensacola Harbor on April 27, 1863; and a destroyer, DD 12, built in 1901. During the great earthquake and fire in San Francisco in 1906, PREBLE participated in the rescue effort by landing shore parties to assist the wounded, and engaged in convoy duty during WWI.

The fourth PREBLE was also a destroyer, DD 345, commissioned in 1920. After 17 years of service, primarily in the Pacific, she was converted in to a light minelayer and was reclassified DM 20, and stationed at Pearl Harbor. On December 7, 1941, PREBLE was being overhauled at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked, and was unable to get underway. A large number of her crew handled ammunition, fought fires and cared for the wounded aboard PENNSYLVANIA (BB 38). In 1945, redesignated a miscellaneous auxiliary vessel (AG 99), she was assigned to duty escorting aircraft carriers engaged in training. She was decommissioned at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard on December 7, 1945. PREBLE earned eight battle stars for World War II service.

The fifth PREBLE, (DDG 46) was commissioned May 9, 1960, and was one of the first ships built from the keel up to fire Terrier guided missiles. She saw extensive action off Vietnam, including using her embarked helicopter units to perform search and rescue for downed aircraft in the Gulf and finally monitoring all aerial activities, including reconnaissance, throughout the Gulf of Tonkin. For her Vietnam actions, DDG 46 earned the Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation and Combat Action Ribbon.

Following many exercises throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, DDG 46 arrived at Ingalls Shipbuilding in June 1985 for an overhaul that included an SM 2 missile conversion. This overhaul was completed in a year’s time and PREBLE left Pascagoula in June 1986. In 1987 she deployed with the USS SARATOGA (CV 60) Battle group to the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. Following operations over the next few years, she departed Norfolk in December 1990 on what would be her final deployment. Through May, 1991, PREBLE escorted USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN 71) and provided protection during Operation Provide Comfort, the humanitarian relief effort assisting the Iraqi Kurds. DDG 46 was decommissioned in 1991.

Northrop Grumman’s Ship Systems (NGSS) Sector, headquartered in Pascagoula, Mississippi, includes Ingalls and the Ship Systems Full Service Center, both located in Pascagoula, as well as Avondale Industries, located in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Gulfport, Mississippi. NGSS 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. NGSS has a firm business backlog exceeding $5.6 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.