U.S. Navy Commissions USS Iwo Jima
The USS IWO JIMA (LHD 7), the U.S. Navy's and Marine Corps' newest large-deck amphibious assault ship, left the Pensacola Naval Air Station for her homeport in Norfolk, Va., following commissioning ceremonies here June 30. The new ship, produced in Pascagoula, Miss., by Ingalls Shipbuilding, a Northrop Grumman company, will become the newest member of Amphibious Group Two. "With a crew of about 1,000 sailors keeping order and helping our allies, this will be the best the United States of America has to offer," Gen. Michael J. Williams, USMC, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, said of the USS IWO JIMA. "The photograph of the Marines raising the flag at Suribachi has become the icon of the United States Marine Corps.
Sealift Ship To Be Christened Benavidez At Avondale
The seventh and final Strategic Sealift ship in the BOB HOPE Class will be christened BENAVIDEZ in ceremonies at the Northrop Grumman Corporation Avondale shipyard Saturday, July 21, 2001, beginning at 10 a.m. The new ship will be named in honor of Medal of Honor recipient Army Master Sgt. Roy P. Benavidez, of Lindenau, Tex. Benavidez distinguished himself in a series of daring and extremely valorous actions while in the Republic of Vietnam assigned to Detachment B56, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces, U.S. Army. On May 2, 1968, while a Staff Sgt., Benavidez voluntarily led the emergency extraction of a 12-man special…
Sealift Ship Delivered Ahead of Schedule
USNS PILILAAU (T-AKR 304), the fifth of seven BOB HOPE Class Strategic Sealift ships being built by Northrop Grumman Corporation's Ship Systems sector, departed Avondale Aug. 24, 2001, after being delivered to the U.S. Navy ahead of schedule one month earlier. PILILAAU earned an outstanding Acceptance Trial evaluation from the Navy and the Office of the Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair, New Orleans, earlier this summer. "We are very pleased with the performance of PILILAAU, and with the ahead-of-schedule delivery," said Tom Kitchen, president of Ship Systems' Avondale operations. "The trials were so successful because our many skilled craftsmen produced the most complete ship yet.
