Fifth Litton-built Aegis destroyer to join U.S. Navy fleet on July 22

Business Wire, July 19, 1995

WOODLAND HILLS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 19, 1995--Ramage (DDG-61), the fifth ship in a series of Aegis guided-missile destroyers being built by Litton's Ingalls Shipbuilding division, Pascagoula, Miss., will be commissioned into active service with the U.S. Navy's Atlantic Fleet this Saturday, July 22, at the Massachusetts Port Authority Black Falcon Terminal in Boston.

The new 505-foot, 8,600-ton ship is one of 14 Arleigh Burke (DDG-51)-class Aegis destroyers contracted to date for construction at Ingalls' 800-acre shipyard. USS Ramage will make Norfolk, Va., her home port.

Lead builder of five of the Navy's latest classes of surface combatants, Ingalls has delivered 68 major warships to the Navy over the past 20 years. In addition to its work on nine more Aegis destroyers, the Litton division is constructing the last two of six 40,500-ton Wasp (LHD-1)-class amphibious assault ships it has been contracted to build to date.

DDG-61 is the first U.S. Navy warship named to honor World War II hero Vice Adm. Lawson Paterson Ramage, USN (1909-1990). In 1944, he became the first living submariner to earn the Medal of Honor. According to the medal citation, Ramage's vessel crippled or sank five Japanese ships in a convoy off Taiwan during a 46-minute predawn surface engagement.

The new Aegis destroyers are the Navy's major ongoing shipbuilding program, and will provide primary protection for the Navy's battle forces well into the 21st century.

Ramage and her sister ships are equipped with a computer- controlled Aegis combat system utilizing an advanced electronically scanned radar that can search in all directions simultaneously. The system is able to detect, track and engage hundreds of aircraft and missiles while continuously watching for new targets from wavetop to the stratosphere.

Aegis destroyers mount a below-deck vertical missile-launching system capable of firing up to 90 Standard surface-to-air, Tomahawk surface-to-surface and antisubmarine missiles. Additionally, the ships mount eight Harpoon antiship missile launchers, torpedo tubes, two Phalanx close-in weapon systems and a five-inch rapid-fire deck gun.

The ships are also equipped with an antisubmarine warfare system, a bow-mounted sonar, a towed sonar array and an antisubmarine helicopter.

Litton is a leader in worldwide technology markets for advanced electronic and defense systems, and a major designer and builder of surface combatant ships for the U.S. Navy and allied nations.

CONTACT: Litton Industries Inc., Woodland Hills

Robert Knapp, 818/598-5907 (office)

805/496-2453 (home)