Public Invited to Celebrate General Dynamics/NASSCO’s Launch of USNS Charles Drew

Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Contact: Barbara Moreno (619) 686-6216

If you've never seen the christening and launch of a Navy ship in San Diego, your chance is coming soon.

On February 27, 2010, the public is invited inside the General Dynamics/NASSCO shipyard to watch the launch of T-AKE 10, the USNS Charles Drew. The ship is named after the African-American physician and medical researcher who pioneered blood banking and transfusions in the 1940s.

The 40-minute ceremony is scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. at NASSCO's shipyard, located at the intersection of 28th Street and East Harbor Drive in San Diego. (Map)

"One of our biggest community outreaches, and one of the things we're the most proud of, is our ship ceremonies," said Karl Johnson, Communications Director for NASSCO. "NASSCO is the last shipbuilder in the US that stern launches large ocean-going ships. This makes a tremendous and spectacular event to see that's always stirring -- no matter how many times you've seen it."

NASSCO is a key part of the Port of San Diego's Working Waterfront. At its peak, more than 1,000 people worked to construct the Charles Drew.

"We're the last ship builder on the West Coast and so that positions San Diego as a key city in building ships for our nation," Johnson said. "Our current program for the US Navy is the T-AKE or dry-cargo ammunition ships. These ships are designed to meet carriers and other Navy ships at sea, and provide them with everything they need, from ice cream to gasoline, all in one stop, as the ships are on the move."

The T-AKE class is special because the ships are named after iconic American History explorers and pioneers, from Lewis and Clark to Amelia Earhart, and from astronaut Wally Schirra to Carl Brashear, the first African American to become a U.S. Navy Master Diver.

Over the last four decades, NASSCO has delivered more than 110 ships to the world's fleets, including oil tankers, ferries, containerships, and oceanographic research ships for commercial customers. It has also built hospital ships, fast combat support ships, tank landing ships, and roll-on/roll-off ships for the United States Navy.

For more information about NASSCO ship ceremonies, visit www.NASSCO.com.

As homeport to the U.S. Navy's Third Fleet, two cargo terminals, a cruise ship terminal and because of its close proximity to San Diego International Airport, the Port of San Diego is one of 15 U.S. ports that are considered strategic ports. Harbor security is a dominant factor in the Port's daily operations and the Harbor Police Department works closely with the U.S. Coast Guard, the Navy, Customs and Border Protection, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the California Office of Homeland Security, California National Guard and other state and local agencies to administer an over-arching regional and integrated approach to port and seaport security.

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