History:
13 December 1996:
Contract Signed
16 July 1999: Keel Laying
17 February 2000: Mast Installation
09 June 2000: Mast Stepping Ceremony
01 July 2000: "Wedge Rally"
02 July 2000: Launch Day – Bath Iron Works,
Bath, Maine. The Honorable Madeleine Albright (Secretary of
State), McCampbell’s Sponsor, christened the ship.
27 February 2001: Ship's Official Website
Established.
09 May 2001: Aegis Light-Off (ALO).
18 May 2001: "MT51" installed.
22 June 2001: Gas Turbine Generator Light-Off.
12 October 2001: Main Engine Light-Off.
09-26 October 2001: Engineering Department attended
the LBES training facility in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
29 October 2001: McCAMPBELL held its first annual
Children's Halloween Party at the "McKeen Street Community
Center" in Brunswick, ME.
03 November 2001: McCAMPBELL is placed in floating
dry-dock for Sonar Dome Installation.
08 December 2001: McCAMPBELL departs dry-dock with
Sonar Dome attached.
14 January 2002: McCAMPBELL underway for first time
("Alpha" trials) under her own power.
15 January 2002: McCAMPBELL returns from "Alpha"
trials.
11 February 2002: McCAMPBELL underway for "Bravo"
trials.
The newest Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer,
McCampbell (DDG 85), will be christened Sunday, July 2, 2000,
during a 1 p.m. EDT ceremony at Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine.
McCampbell (DDG 85) honors the late Navy Capt. David McCampbell
(1910-1996). McCampbell is the Navy's top ace with 34 confirmed
aerial victories and recipient of the Medal of Honor while
serving as commander, Air Group 15, USS Essex (CV 9) during the
Battle of the Philippine Sea (June 19, 1944) and the Battle of
Leyte Gulf (October 24, 1944). During the first encounter,
McCampbell's force "virtually annihilated" an
attacking force of 80 Japanese carrier-based aircraft, of which
he personally shot down seven. In the Battle of Leyte Gulf, he
daringly attacked a formation of at least 60 Japanese land-based
aircraft. McCampbell shot down at least nine of these aircraft,
forcing the remainder to abandon the attack. In addition to the
Medal of Honor, McCampbell received the Navy Cross, Silver Star
and Distinguished Flying Cross. No previous ship has been named
McCampbell. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright is the
ship's sponsor and will deliver an address during the ceremony.
In the time-honored Navy tradition, Albright will break a bottle
of champagne across the bow to formally christen McCampbell.
McCampbell is the 35th of 58 Arleigh Burke class destroyers
currently authorized by Congress. These ships can conduct a
variety of missions, from peacetime presence and crisis
anagement 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, these destroyers will carry out the Navy's missions
well into the next century. State-of-the-art command, control,
communications, computers and intelligence systems provide their
ships' crew with complete situational awareness. DDG 85 is
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. McCampbell 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 naval
gun fire support of forces ashore. The ship's aircraft handling
and support facilities include dual aircraft hangers (port &
starboard), a dual Recovery Assist, Securing and Traversing
(RAST) System, and associated machinery systems providing
significant enhanced helicopter launch and recovery, ommand 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.
MAR15-02: Navy Takes Delivery of Destroyer McCAMPBELL
By Patricia Cavender, Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Bath
Public Affairs
BATH, Maine -- The Navy took delivery of its newest
Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, Pre-Commissioning Unit (PCU)
McCAMPBELL (DDG 85), during a ceremony at Bath Iron Works,
Maine, on March 8. Last month, McCAMPBELL broke new ground by
becoming the first Bath-built ship to combine "builder's
and acceptance trials." The single at-sea trial provides a
significant cost savings to the shipbuilder and the Navy
Indicative of the trials' success, McCAMPBELL displayed two
brooms, signifying a "clean sweep" upon its return to
Bath.
"Today is another important production milestone, the
culmination of a long construction process," said Capt.
John Ingram, commanding officer, Supervisor of Shipbuilding,
Bath. "When McCAMPBELL leaves here in May, it will be a
better and more capable ship than its predecessors." "I
truly believe that Bath-built is best built," stated Cmdr.
Mark Montgomery, the ship's prospective commanding officer.
Thanking all the workers involved in McCAMPBELL's construction,
he added, "It is the work of the pipe fitters, laborers,
carpenters, welders, painters and many other skilled artisans
that brings the ship to the point where we can man it."
PCU McCAMPBELL is named for Medal of Honor recipient Navy
Capt. David McCampbell (1910-1996), the Navy's all-time top
flying ace, credited with shooting down 34 Japanese aircraft
during World War II. In addition to the Medal of Honor,
McCampbell was awarded the Navy Cross, the Silver Star Medal,
Legion of Merit with Combat "V", the Distinguished
Flying Cross with two Gold Stars in lieu of the second and third
awards and the Air Medal, during his command of Air Group 15.
PCU McCAMPBELL is scheduled to leave Bath in May, and join
the U.S. Pacific Fleet in August at its commissioning in San
Francisco. The ship will be homeported in San Diego.
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