
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 8, 1994                    TAG: 9406070393 
SECTION: MILITARY NEWS                     PAGE: A6    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: Medium 
DATELINE: 940608                                 LENGTH:

WEEKLY BRIEFING

{LEAD} WARSHIP COMMISSIONING: For the first time, the Navy will commission a warship in St. Louis. The Squall, an ocean-going patrol vessel will be commissioned July 4 on the Mississippi River beneath the Gateway Arch. It is the seventh of the Cyclone-class of coastal patrol boats to be commissioned. Four are based at Little Creek in Norfolk. The Squall, at 170 feet, will carry a crew of 26 and eventually be based in California. St. Louis has seen many a Navy boat before; in World War II, shipyards there churned out landing barges. But a ship is a different matter, because the navigation channel of the Mississippi River dips down to only 12 feet. That's no sweat for the Squall, which draws only 7 feet.

\ NEWEST EXCHANGE: The Navy Exchange's newest store is in Zagreb, Croatia - a location that has called for special measures because of the civil war raging in neighboring Bosnia. The Virginia Beach-based Navy Exchange Service Command, or NEXCOM, took over an Army and Air Force exchange service at a mobile hospital in Zagreb - an area in a state of upheaval as Croats, Serbs and Muslims fight in Bosnia. The goal was to boost the quality of life and morale of U.S. troops in the area. In the two months since NEXCOM began the changeover, sales have increased 100 percent to $2,500 per day, the command said. Exchange store shelves now are filled with 450 items familiar to U.S. consumers, including Maxwell House coffee and Kellogg's Pop-Tarts.

\ IN SEARCH OF VETS' RELATIVES: A veterans group is looking for the families of World War II submarine crew members for a planned Submarine Memorial Wall of Honor in Groton, Conn., where many of the lost submariners received their training. The black granite wall, similar to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, will bear the names of the crew members. It is to be dedicated Sept. 2, 1995, the anniversary of the war's end. The sponsor, U.S. Submarine Veterans of World War II, is looking for the sailors' relatives to check the accuracy of the names and to raise money for the $250,000 project. For information, call (203) 446-8255 or write the group at P.O. Box 1024, Groton, CT 06340.

\ DECOMMISSIONING: The frigate Bowen was decommissioned Friday at Norfolk Naval Station and turned over to the Turkish navy, which will rename it Akdeniz. Commissioned in 1971, the ship's service history includes attacks against batteries that were shelling U.S. Marines at the Beirut airport. by CNB