Navy to commission Guided Missile Destroyer Donald Cook

NAVY WIRE SERVICE (NWS) - 30 November 1998

by DoD Public Affairs


     WASHINGTON (NWS) -- Guided Missile Destroyer Donald
Cook (DDG 75) will be commissioned Dec. 4 at Penn's Landing
in Philadelphia.
     Army Gen. Henry H. Shelton, Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, is scheduled to be the ceremony's principal
speaker. Laurette Cook, widow of the ship's namesake, is the
ship's sponsor. In the time-honored Navy tradition, Mrs.
Cook will give the order, "Man our ship and bring her to
life!"
     The ship honors Marine Corps Col. Donald G. Cook (1934-
1967), who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for
gallantry as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. Reports indicate
that Cook died in captivity after he succumbed to malaria on
Dec. 8, 1967.
     The destroyer 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. Donald Cook is also equipped with the
Phalanx Close-In Weapons System and Harpoon anti-ship cruise
missiles, which are fired from stand alone launchers.
     Its undersea warfare suite is the most advanced system
in the world. The Tactical Towed-Array Sonar provides long-
range passive detection of enemy submarines. The hull-
mounted sonar can detect and track submarines actively and
passively.
     After commissioning, USS Donald Cook will be homeported
in Norfolk as a member of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet with a
crew of 25 officers and 350 enlisted personnel. The ship was
built at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine.
                            -USN-