Warship to be named for Chafee
WASHINGTON -- One of the nation's most advanced new warships will be named for Sen. John H. Chafee, President Clinton said yesterday.
He made the announcement just before flying to Rhode Island for the funeral of the one-time secretary of the Navy.
Mr. Clinton said the 40th ship of the Arleigh Burke class of guided-missile destroyers will be christened for Chafee, who served in the Marine unit that invaded Guadalcanal on Aug. 7, 1942.
``Given Senator Chafee's long association with the sea -- with the Marine Corps, the Navy and the great maritime state of Rhode Island -- I can think of no better way to honor his many contributions than to name a warship in his honor,'' Mr. Clinton said.
Among other decorations, Chafee earned the Navy Cross, one of the nation's highest awards for valor, for his exploits in combat during World War II. Enlisting at age 19, shortly after the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor, Chafee also fought at Okinowa. He also served in the Korean conflict, as commander of a rifle company.
During the Vietnam War, Chafee served as President Richard M. Nixon's Navy secretary, from 1969 to 1972.
The honor conferred by Mr. Clinton had some sidelights that were pleasing to the senator's family and friends.
First, the John H. Chafee will be completed in 2001 at Bath Iron Works, a shipyard on the same Maine coast where Chafee spent his summers from earliest youth.
Second, Mr. Clinton picked the right destroyer to carry the Chafee name: BIW, a division of General Dynamics, is a corporate relative of Electric Boat, the Groton-based submarine-builder.
The other contractor that builds the Arleigh Burke destroyers is the Ingalls shipyard of Pascagoula, Miss. -- a long-time rival of BIW, as Chafee well knew in his capacity as a legislator who always strove to get his region its share of the Pentagon dollar.
The Arleigh Burke class destroyers are 466 feet long and have a top speed of 31 knots. They are armed with torpedos, missiles and radar-directed cannon. The are generally manned by 23 officers and 300 crew.
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