DATE: Thursday, October 2, 1997             TAG: 9710020555

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

                                            LENGTH:   21 lines

SAILORS RETURN AND SHIP'S IN SHAPE

MOTOYA NAKAMURA/The Virginian-Pilot

Petty Officer 1st Class Mark Fortune gets a group hug from his

daughter Katelyn (behind him), 4, his fiancee Cheryl Graybill, and

her son Jonathan (middle), 10. Fortune returned to Norfolk aboard

the Gonzalez, whose crew has been separated from their families

since Nov. 11. The $900 million Arleigh-Burke class destroyer ran

aground shortly after its commissioning and the ship has since been

undergoing extensive repairs at Bath Iron Works in Maine. The

repairs were estimated to cost $15 million and the Navy toyed with

the idea of decommissioning it after it ran into a reef in the

Caribbean Sea. KEYWORDS: HOMECOMING

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