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MIAMI: A new guided missile destroyer, Gridley (DDG 101) will arrive in Miami tomorrow, February 2, at noon, to participate in Super Bowl XLI events and prepare for its formal commissioning ceremonies the following weekend. The Gridley will be commissioned on Saturday, February 10, the first Navy warship to do so in Miami.
Five thousand invited guests are expected to attend the commissioning ceremony at the Port of Miami. A commissioning ceremony celebrates the ship's official acceptance into the active fleet, and it is an event steeped in centuries of nautical tradition. The Prospective Commanding Officer, Cmdr. Steve Shinego, grew up in South Florida in Hallandale Beach.
The soon to be designated USS Gridley is named after Captain Charles V. Gridley, who commanded Commodore Dewey's flagship Olympia during the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898 in the Spanish American War.
Built by Bath Iron Works, a General Dynamics company, Gridley is the 51st Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer. Five hundred nine feet long and displacing 9,200 tons, the ship is capable of carrying 96 vertically launched weapons including Tomahawk cruise missiles as well as ship-to-ship and anti-aircraft missiles. In addition, Gridley carries a 5 inch gun, two Mk 46 triple-torpedo tubes, two 25mm guns, and two MH-60 helicopters. Four gas turbine engines power the ship through two propellers, enabling it to reach a top speed in excess of 30 knots. The ship's crew of 292 officers and enlisted men and women represent 45 different states, five continents and ten different countries.
Following the commissioning ceremony, the newly designated USS Gridley will depart for her homeport in San Diego.
For media interested in covering the arrival of GRIDLEY and the commissioning ceremony, please contact Navy Public Affairs at 207-332-2620 and/or LT Mike Kafka at 757-544-3451.
