Thursday, 4:30 PM
Naval destroyer to be commissioned in Boston
(US Navy)
By Globe Staff
The Navy announced today that it will commission its first ship in Boston in five years in a ceremony in November that will christen a new guided missile destroyer, the USS Sampson.
The destroyer, which was built at the Bath Iron Works in Maine, will be commissioned on Saturday, Nov. 3, at Massport’s Black Falcon Cruise Ship Terminal.
"Sampson will be the most technologically advanced warship ever built," Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts said in a statement. "Sampson and her fine crew will be ready to carry out the fighting tradition of the United States Navy."
Kerry announced the commissioning at a press conference this morning at the Charlestown Navy Yard. The Sampson will be the fourth ship in the Navy to be named in honor of Rear Admiral William T. Sampson, all of which have been commissioned in Boston.
Sampson became the commandant of the Boston Navy Yard in October 1899 after a decorated career. After the United States declared war against Spain on April 21, 1898, Sampson took the USS New York in search of the Spanish Fleet. On July 3, 1898, Spanish Admiral Pasqual Cervera's fleet came out of the harbor in Santiago in northwestern Spain and was destroyed in a five-hour battle. The next day, Sampson sent what became a famous message: "The Fleet under my command offers the nation as a Fourth of July present, the whole of Cervera's Fleet!"
The captain of the USS Sampson will be Commander Philip Roos.
"The crew and I are anxious to answer the call from our nation to be ready to help put an end to this war on terrorism, just as Commodore Sampson and his crew did nearly 109 years ago," Roos said in a statement.
With a crew of 25 officers and 250 enlisted, the Sampson is 511 feet long, 66 feet at its widest point, displaces 9,200 tons of water, and has a top speed in excess of 30 knots. It has a rapid-fire guns and Tomahawk cruise missiles. The Sampson’s home port will be in San Diego.
