
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, February 27, 1994                   TAG: 9402270075
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Short

NAVY BIDS FAREWELL TO USS VIRGINIA

Past and present sailors gathered Saturday to bid farewell to the guided missile cruiser USS Virginia, a vessel Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Frank Kelso said didn't look ready for retirement.

"Virginia still looks great, and if you were to view this scene from a short distance, you might think we were commissioning a ship rather than retiring one," he told those attending the Norfolk Naval Base decommissioning ceremony.

The nuclear-powered Virginia is less than 20 years old. Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. built the 11,300-ton vessel, and it was launched in December 1974 and commissioned in September 1976.

The ship had been scheduled for overhaul and refueling of its two nuclear reactors this year. But Navy officials said the cost of the work and the required fleet reduction under the Pentagon's post-Cold War scaling back of forces prompted the decision to take the Virginia out of service.

Kelso acknowledged the Virginia's service in the Persian Gulf War as he praised the Navy's readiness.

Recently, the ship played a role in U.S. anti-drug trafficking operations in the Caribbean, seizing thousands of pounds of cocaine and marijuana.

by CNB