MEDIA ADVISORY, Jan. 19, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) --
What: Media Invited (photo opportunities) -- Christening, Kidd
(DDG 100)
(A photo accompanying this advisory is available at:
http://media.primezone.com/noc/)
When: Saturday Jan. 22, 2005
Media should arrive by 9:30 a.m.; Ceremony begins
promptly at 10 a.m.
Where: Northrop Grumman Ship Systems
1000 Access Road, Pascagoula, Miss.
RSVP: Bill Glenn
(228) 935-3972
William.Glenn@ngc.com
On Saturday Jan. 22, U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Isaac Campbell Kidd, Medal of Honor recipient and the first flag officer to perish in World War II, will be honored at the christening of Kidd (DDG 100), an Aegis guided missile destroyer being built by Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC).
Guest speakers will include: Navy Vice Adm. Phillip Balisle, commander, Naval Sea Systems Command; Allison Stiller, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy, ships; Navy Rear Adm. Charles S. Hamilton, program executive officer for ships; Philip A. Dur, president, Northrop Grumman Ship Systems; and Paul Robinson, vice president and general manager, Surface Combatant Programs, Northrop Grumman Ship Systems.
Kidd's granddaughters, Regina Kidd Wolbarsht and Mary Corrinne Kidd Plumer, will serve as sponsors of the ship and will simultaneously break champagne bottles across the bow to formally name DDG 100 Kidd.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Kidd was commander of Battleship Division One and senior officer present afloat during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. From the bridge of his flagship USS Arizona (BB 39), Kidd directed the counterattack against enemy aircraft until a direct hit to the bridge took his life. Kidd was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on that day.
The 9,200-ton Kidd is the 24th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer built by Northrop Grumman Ship Systems and the 50th ship in the class. Kidd will be capable of fighting air, surface, and subsurface battles simultaneously and conducting a variety of operations, from peacetime presence and crisis management to sea control and power projection, in support of the National Military Strategy. The ship contains myriad offensive and defensive weapons designed to support maritime defense needs well into the 21st century.
Northrop Grumman Ship Systems includes primary operations in Pascagoula and Gulfport, Miss.; and in New Orleans and Tallulah, La., as well as in a network of fleet support offices in the U.S. and Japan. Ship Systems is one of the nation's leading full-service systems companies for the design, engineering, construction and life-cycle support of major surface ships for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard and international navies.
