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NWSA015.  Secretary of the Navy announces names of five ships
     WASHINGTON (NWSA), Dec. 8, 1994 -- Secretary of the Navy John 
Dalton announced Tuesday, Dec 6., the names of three new Arleigh
Burke-class guided missile destroyers, and two new surveying and
oceanographic research ships, currently authorized by Congress
for construction.
     The destroyers are named in honor of Navy and Marine Corps
heroes from the War of 1812, the Civil War, World War II and
Vietnam.  The ships being named are:
     O'Kane (DDG 77), in honor of Rear Admiral Richard H.
O'Kane, USN, (1911-1994), who was awarded a Medal of Honor for
his daring attacks on two Japanese convoys while in command of
the submarine Tang (SS 306) in 1944.  In addition to the Medal of
Honor, Rear Admiral O'Kane was awarded three Navy Crosses and
three Silver Star Medals.  Rear Admiral O'Kane was a native of
Dover, New Hampshire.
     DDG 77 will be built at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, and
is expected to enter the fleet in 1999.
     Porter (DDG 78), in honor of Commodore David Porter
(1780-1843) and his son, Vice Admiral David Dixon Porter
(1813-1891).
     Commodore Porter distinguished himself while in command of
the frigate Essex during the War of 1812.  Vice Admiral Porter
rose from the rank of lieutenant to rear admiral in two years
during the Civil War.  Four previous ships have borne the name
Porter including a steam torpedo boat which served from 1897-1912
and three destroyers: DD 59, which served in World War I; DD 356,
which earned one battle star during World War II before being
sunk off the Solomons in 1942; and DD 800, which earned one
battle star during World War II and one during the Korean
Conflict.
     DDG 78 will be built at Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula,
Miss., and is expected to enter the fleet in 1999.
     Oscar Austin (DDG 79), in honor of Private First
Class Oscar P.  Austin, USMC, who was posthumously awarded the
Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry in Vietnam on Feb.  23,
1969.  While attempting to rescue a wounded companion during a
fierce fire-fight with North Vietnamese forces, Austin threw
himself between the fallen Marine and the hostile fire.   In
doing so, he was mortally wounded.  PFC Austin was a native of
Nacogdoches, Texas.
     DDG 79 also will be built at Bath Iron Works, and is
scheduled to enter the fleet in the year 2000.
     The two new survey and oceanographic research ships will be
operated by the Navy's Military Sealift Command for the
Oceanographer of the Navy, and are named as follows:
     Henson (T-AGS 63), a Pathfinder-class surveying ship, is
named in honor of Matthew A.  Henson (1866-1955), an
African-American explorer and a key member of Admiral Robert
Peary's 1909 expedition to the North Pole.  Henson made eight
Arctic voyages with Peary.
     T-AGS 63 will be built at Halter Marine in Moss Point,
Miss., and is expected to enter the fleet in 1998.
     Atlantis (T-AGOR 25), a Thomas G.  Thompson-class
oceanographic research ship, commemorates the service of two
previous Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution research vessels,
Atlantis I & II, whose service dates back to the founding of the
Institution.  There was one previous U.S.  Navy ship bearing the
name Atlantis, a motorboat, which served from 1917-1919.
Courtesy of NAVNEWS, Washington D.C.
                              -USN-