Kearsarge (CVS 33) - Naval Cruise Book

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Launch facilities for the LHDs are unique in the shipbuilding industry where the traditional methods of stem launch down inclined ways or side launch is common Basically the LHD launch facility consists of a heavy concrete gridwork and support platform submerged at the edge of the ship integration area. Resting on top of this platform is a huge pontoon. When ballasted, the pontoon rests firmly on the concrete platform, and the pallet car tracks on the pontoon are precisely aligned with those in the ship integration area. Pnor to moving the ship onto the pontoon, the pontoon is ballasted, the pallet car tracks are aligned, and the inboard wing tanks of the pontoon are removed so the ship can be translated fi-om the ship integration area to the pontoon. The ship is slowly moved into position on the launch pontoon and made ready for launch. The inboard wing tanks are repositioned on the pontoon and the pontoon is deballasted so it floats fi ' ee of the concrete platform. The pon- toon is then towed into the deep water channel where ballasting commences. When the ship is afloat, it is towed clear of the launch pontoon and then to the outfitting docks Service lines (water, power, steam, etc.) are connected when the ship is secured to the pier. Final outfitting performed during this period involves completion and integration of all ship subsystems as well as cleanup and painting. Post-launch outfitting of the ship constitutes less than ten percent of the total outfitting labor for the ship. This is a direct result of outfitting the ship ' s hull subassemblies and modules while in the module erection area. A conven- tional shipyard would apply about one- half of its total outfitting labor after the ship was launched. i ly It follows then as certain as night succeeds day, that without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, and with it everything honorable and glorious. George Washington: Letter to Marquis de Lafayette, 15 November 1781 - And see! She stirs! She starts - she moves - she seems to feel The trill of life along her keel. And, spurning with her foot to the ground. With one exulting, joyous bound She leaps into the ocean ' s arms. -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow The Building of a Ship

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Construction (LHP 3) c:i The LHD is manufactured in five separate modules, modules No 1,2,3,4 and 5 Module No. 5 is the island staicture When two modules are to be joined, provisions are made to accommodate minor misalignments in six degrees of motion: heel, pitch, yaw, vertical displacement, lateral displacement, and longitudinal displacement. The first step in assembling the hull is to move the machinery module (No. 3) into the ship integra- tion area. It is the heaviest module. It moves in a straight line from the module assembly area into the ship integration area. The other modules then move to align with module 3. The figure above shows ship integra- tion.

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Christening KEARSARGE Mav 16, 1992 V ' T f ' hiemna •V KEARSARGf V SPONSOR wf-? ■■ Litton ' t rhe ship christening ceremony is a time honored tradition, whose origin can be traced back as early as when ships first put to sea. This custom still survives today and is practiced in some form by all seafaring nations. Until the 19th century. United States Ships were christened by men. In 1846, Mrs. Lavina Watson Fanning became the first woman to sponsor a United States warship as she christened the sloop GERMANTOWN in Philadelphia, PA. Since that occasion, the honor has always been bestowed upon a woman. Tradition holds that the spirit of the sponsor enters the ship at christening and remains forever. The ship becomes part of her and she a part of it, as it sails the sea to preserve America ' s fi-eedom. KEARSARGE is blessed to be sponsored by Mrs. Alma J. Powell, wife of General Colin Powell, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The christening is a significant milestone in the service of a ship. It is the moment when the ship receives a name and begins to emerge as more than an inanimate object. Christenings tie the bond between ships and the men and women who build and sail them. On May 16, 1992, Mrs. Powell christened LHD 3 as KEARSARGE . Mrs. Alma Johnson Powell, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, graduated fi-om Fisk University in Nashville , Tennessee, majoring in Speech and Drama. She also studied Speech Pathology and Audiology at Emerson College in Boston. She has unselfishly supported numerous charitable organizations and has most recently served as a member of the Ford ' s Theatre Board of Trustees, a member of the Kennedy Center Com- munity and Friends Board, a member of the Ronald McDonald House Board, a member of the National Mili- tary Family Association Board of Advisors, and a member of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees. General and Mrs. Powell have three children, Michael (29), Linda (27), and Annemarie (22).