----------------------------------------------------------------  
           The United States Navy on the World Wide Web
   A service of the Navy Office of Information, Washington DC  
      send feedback/questions to comments@chinfo.navy.mil  
  The United States Navy web site is found on the Internet at  
                      http://www.navy.mil  
---------------------------------------------------------------- 

           NAVY TO CHRISTEN DESTROYER BULKELEY (DDG 84)

   The newest Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer, 
Bulkeley (DDG 84), will be christened Saturday, June 24, 2000, 
during a 10 a.m. (local time) ceremony at Litton's Ingalls 
Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Miss.
   The ship is named in honor of the late Navy Vice Adm. John 
Duncan Bulkeley, (1911-1996). Bulkeley was the recipient of the 
Medal of Honor, Navy Cross, and numerous other decorations for 
heroic actions during World War II.  While in command of Motor 
Torpedo Boat (MTB) Squadrons Three and Seven during the defense 
of the Philippines, Bulkeley evacuated Army Gen. Douglas 
MacArthur and President Quezon of the Philippines, and destroyed 
several Japanese planes, surface combatants, and merchant ships.  
As commander, MTB Squadron 102, he supported the Normandy and 
Southern France invasions.  Following the war, he became 
president of the Board of Inspection and Survey, where he 
continued to serve upon transfer to the retired list on Jan. 1, 
1974.
   Former Kansas Senator Bob Dole will deliver the ceremony's 
principal address.  Bulkeley's daughters, Regina J. Day, Joan I. 
Stade, and Diana J. Lindsay; daughter-in-law, Carol A. Bulkeley; 
and U.S. Pacific Fleet Adm. Thomas B. Fargo's wife, Sarah, will 
serve as ship sponsors in the time-honored Navy tradition, when 
they each break a bottle of champagne across the bow to formally 
christen Bulkeley.
   Bulkeley is the 34th of 58 Arleigh Burke class destroyers 
currently authorized by Congress, and the 14th of this class to 
be built by Ingalls Shipbuilding.  DDG 51 destroyers are the 
most capable surface warships ever built.  Truly multi-mission 
combatants, these 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.
Equipped with the latest weapons, electronics, helicopter 
support facilities, and propulsion, auxiliary and survivability 
systems, DDG 51 destroyers will carry out the Navy's missions 
well into the century.  State-of-the-art command, control, 
communications, computers and intelligence systems provide their 
ships' crew with complete situational awareness.
   DDG 84 is also equipped with the Navy's modern Aegis combat 
weapons system, the world's foremost naval weapon system.  
Space-age communications, radar and weapons technologies are 
combined in a single platform for unlimited mission flexibility.  
The systems include the AN/SPY-1D phased array radar; the MK 41 
Vertical Launching System, which fires a combination of up to 96 
Standard surface-to-air, and Tomahawk surface-to-surface 
missiles; and the AN/SQQ-89 Antisubmarine Warfare System, with a 
bow mounted AN/SQS-53C sonar.
   In addition, Bulkeley has six MK 46 torpedo tubes, as well as 
two MK 15 Phalanx Close-In Weapons Systems and a multi-mission 
5"/62 caliber deck-mounted gun which can be used as an anti-ship 
weapon, close-in point defense or in support of forces ashore 
with naval gunfire.
   The ship's aircraft handling and support facilities include 
dual aircraft hangers (port and starboard), a dual Recovery 
Assist, Securing and Traversing System, and associated machinery 
systems providing significant enhanced helicopter launch and 
recovery, command and control and maintenance/repair 
capabilities.  The ship also features the over-the-horizon LAMPS 
MK III Antisubmarine Warfare Control System, and will be 
assigned two SH-60B Seahawk Undersea Warfare helicopters.
Navy Cmdr. Carlos Del Toro of New York, N.Y., is the prospective 
commanding officer of Bulkeley with a crew of approximately 383 
officers, chiefs and enlisted personnel.  Upon its commissioning 
in the year 2001, Bulkeley will be homeported in Norfolk, Va., 
as a member of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet.  DDG 84 is 509.5 feet in 
length, and has a waterline beam of 59 feet.  Four gas-turbine 
engines power the 9,200 ton ship to speeds in excess of 30 
knots.
-USN-