NAVY TO CHRISTEN AEGIS GUIDED MISSILE DESTROYER
 ROOSEVELT (DDG 80) IN PASCAGOULA, MISS.

The U.S. Navy will christen Aegis Guided Missile Destroyer 
Roosevelt (DDG 80) Saturday, Jan. 23, during an 11 a.m. (CST) 
ceremony at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss.

The ship honors 32nd President of the United States 
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945), and First Lady Eleanor 
Roosevelt (1884-1962).  Roosevelt served as the 12th Assistant 
Secretary of the Navy for seven years before being elected to 
the first of four terms as President in 1932.  He guided the 
nation out of the Great Depression and through World War II.  
The First Lady was known as a tireless worker for social causes, 
serving twice as a U.S. delegate to the United Nations.  She 
chaired the United Nations Human Rights Commission, and was 
entirely responsible for drafting the United Nations Declaration 
of Human Rights.   One previous U.S. Navy ship was named in the 
President’s honor -- Franklin D. Roosevelt (CV 42) (1945-1977) 
earned one star for her participation in the Vietnam conflict.  
		
Adm. J. Paul Reason, Commander in Chief, U.S. Atlantic 
Fleet, is the ceremony’s principal speaker.  Mrs. Nancy 
Roosevelt Ireland, granddaughter of the ship’s namesake, will 
serve as ship’s sponsor and in the time-honored Navy tradition, 
she will break the bottle of champagne across the bow to 
formally name the ship.

Roosevelt is the 30th of 51 Arleigh Burke class destroyers 
currently authorized by Congress.  These multi-missioned ships 
are equipped with the Navy’s modern Aegis combat weapons 
systems, which combines space-age communication, radar and 
weapons technologies in a single platform for unlimited 
flexibility while operating “Forward…From the Sea.”  

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 (VLS). 
 Roosevelt is equipped with the Phalanx Close-In Weapons System 
(CIWS) and Harpoon anti-ship cruise missiles, which have a range 
in excess of 65 nautical miles and are fired from stand alone 
launchers.

	Roosevelt’s 5”/54 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.  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.   DDG 80 features the over-the-horizon LAMPS MK 
III anti-submarine warfare control system.  In its new 
configuration, the addition of an aircraft hangar accommodates 
two SH-60B Seahawk undersea warfare helicopters now be assigned 
to Roosevelt.    

	Cmdr. Matthew W. Bobola, USN, a native of Jacksonville, 
Fla., and a 1982 graduate of the University of Southern Calif., 
is the prospective commanding officer of Roosevelt.  Following 
the ship’s commissioning in the year 2000, it will be homeported 
in Mayport, Fla., with a crew of 340 officers, chiefs and 
enlisted personnel, as a member of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet. The 
ship is being built at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, 
Miss., is 509.5 feet in length, and has a waterline beam of 66 
feet.  Four gas-turbine engines power the 9,204 ton ship to 
speeds in excess of 30 knots. 

                            -USN-