Military Ships United States

Under the proposed federal budget, the San Diego-based aircraft carrier Ranger is slated to be decommissioned in 1993--a move that will mean a $100-million loss to the city in Navy contracts, services and payroll, Navy officials said. In San Diego, which has traditionally been home port to three carriers, the new budget signaled that the community may have to become accustomed to less. For the ship repair industry, which has suffered tremendous losses in the past decade, the news was sobering.

General Dynamics Corp. said Thursday that it will buy Bath Iron Works, one of the nation's oldest shipyards, for $300 million in cash. The acquisition would give General Dynamics access to the privately held shipyard's backlog of about $2 billion in orders for Navy ships. At a time when new shipbuilding contracts are scarce, companies looking to expand their business must buy existing contracts.

General Dynamics Corp. has discovered welding flaws so severe in the hull and internal structures of the Navy's first SSN-21 attack submarine that the partly completed submarine will have to be disassembled and rebuilt, Defense Department officials said. Officials speaking on condition of anonymity said the problem is expected to delay delivery by as much as a year and cost tens of millions of dollars.

The Navy on Wednesday gave San Diego's economy a much-needed shot in the arm by awarding National Steel & Shipbuilding Co. a $1.3-billion contract to build as many as six gigantic supply ships. The contract is a major plum for Nassco, as the shipyard is known. It is the West Coast's last major shipbuilder, and management had been worried that it might have to order numerous layoffs once current contracts were filled in 1996.

Amazing. Pee-wee Herman gets arrested for doing the same thing people pay to see Madonna do in concert. Neat. RICK DUNKERLY Whittier

If the United States decides to use military force against suspected Iraqi nuclear operations, it has 50,000 troops, 15 warships and a secret number of planes in the region. Stealth F-117 bombers remain in the Persian Gulf along with F-15, F-16 and F-4 fighter planes, A-10 "tank killers," EF-111 electronic warfare planes and E-3 radar planes, the Defense Department said Friday.

The amphibious assault helicopter carrier Tripoli was damaged by mines this week while on a minesweeping operation. The San Diego-based vessel is the flagship of the U.S.-led mine countermeasures group in the Gulf. Can accommodate 20 Sea Knight or 11 Sea Stallion helicopters and up to 4 Harrier jets. Class: Iwo Jima Crew: 686 Length: 600 feet Commissioned: Aug. 6, 1966 Displacement: 18,000 tons, full load.

Under the proposed federal budget, the San Diego-based aircraft carrier Ranger is slated to be decommissioned in 1993--a move that will mean a $100-million loss to the city in Navy contracts, services and payroll, Navy officials said. In San Diego, which has traditionally been home port to three carriers, the new budget signaled that the community may have to become accustomed to less. For the ship repair industry, which has suffered tremendous losses in the past decade, the news was sobering.

The Silkworm and Exocet missiles in Iraq's arsenal are thought to be particularly deadly to allied warships. With Iraq's air force essentially out of commission, that threat has subsided, but danger remains from land-launched missiles. An even bigger threat is mines. Just this week, two U.S. warships were damaged in the Persian Gulf, including the Princeton, a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser (right). Here is how a ship defends itself. U.

The wives of the U.S. Navy cruiser Princeton, which encountered an "influence mine" in the northern Persian Gulf and became the only U.S. ship put out of action in the war, are fashioning a huge purple heart to send to the crew of 420. They also are beginning to think about a huge homecoming celebration.

After a decade of secrecy, the U.S. Navy has unveiled its seafaring version of the Stealth fighter plane, called the Sea Shadow. The 160-foot-long ship was engineered by Lockheed Corp.'s Advanced Development Projects unit in Burbank, better known as the "Skunk Works," which also designed the F-117A Stealth fighter. Indeed, analysts say Sea Shadow looks like the F-117A on pontoons, having the same angular shape intended to make it invisible to radar.

A heroic chapter during the waning days of World War II--the firestorm aboard the aircraft carrier Franklin that led to a rescue mission by Navy Lt. Donald A. Gary--will be commemorated at a local park, thanks to the efforts of resident Evelyn Newcomb, 64. Gary, who became a neighbor of Newcomb's after the war, made three blinding, perilous trips below-decks of the burning aircraft carrier to guide more than 300 of his trapped shipmates to safety.

The battleship Missouri, site of the Japanese surrender in 1945, steamed out of Long Beach on Friday on its final mission: a Pearl Harbor cruise to mark the 50th anniversary of the attack that brought the United States into World War II. Although the 58,000-ton "Mighty Mo" pulled away without fanfare about 9 a.m., its crew and shore-based support staff were aware of the significance of the moment. "It's sad," said Lt. Wes Carey, one of the ship's 1,500 crew members. "It's the end of an era."

The Tripoli, the only U.S. Navy ship to suffer major combat damage in Operation Desert Storm, returned home Thursday, more than eight months after being deployed to the Persian Gulf. Despite a 20-by-30-foot hole caused by the explosion of an Iraqi mine Feb. 18, the 25-year-old ship continued its mission for five days until it ran out of fuel for its mine-sweeping helicopters. The Naval Historical Center in Washington reported that the Tripoli is the first U.S.

General Dynamics Corp. has discovered welding flaws so severe in the hull and internal structures of the Navy's first SSN-21 attack submarine that the partly completed submarine will have to be disassembled and rebuilt, Defense Department officials said. Officials speaking on condition of anonymity said the problem is expected to delay delivery by as much as a year and cost tens of millions of dollars.

Amazing. Pee-wee Herman gets arrested for doing the same thing people pay to see Madonna do in concert. Neat. RICK DUNKERLY Whittier

The battleship Missouri, site of the Japanese surrender in 1945, steamed out of Long Beach on Friday on its final mission: a Pearl Harbor cruise to mark the 50th anniversary of the attack that brought the United States into World War II. Although the 58,000-ton "Mighty Mo" pulled away without fanfare about 9 a.m., its crew and shore-based support staff were aware of the significance of the moment. "It's sad," said Lt. Wes Carey, one of the ship's 1,500 crew members. "It's the end of an era."

Petty Officer 3rd Class Mike Davis and his wife, Sharon, will have plenty of time to talk about her pregnancy and his brush with death now that Davis has returned from the war, perhaps the first of Orange County's military contingent to come home since last week's cease-fire. The 21-year-old Davis visited Sunday with his parents at their Fullerton home and recounted the dramatic turn their lives took two weeks ago while they were half a world apart. On Feb.

To see her now, teakwood decks smooth and sturdy, her huge hull and bridges a spotless haze gray, it's hard to believe that the battleship Missouri was commissioned in 1944 and saw combat in World War II, Korea and the Persian Gulf. Hard to believe, that is, unless one talks to some of the crew of the 58,000-ton battleship anchored at the Long Beach Naval Station. "It sounds hokey, but it's true," Lt. Cmdr. T.L. McCreary said Sunday.

If the United States decides to use military force against suspected Iraqi nuclear operations, it has 50,000 troops, 15 warships and a secret number of planes in the region. Stealth F-117 bombers remain in the Persian Gulf along with F-15, F-16 and F-4 fighter planes, A-10 "tank killers," EF-111 electronic warfare planes and E-3 radar planes, the Defense Department said Friday.