Posted on 05/08/2008 1:00:35 PM PDT by mtntop3
Navy Secretary Names New Guided-Missile Destroyer USS Michael Murphy
Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter announced today at a ceremony in Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y., the name of the newest Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer will be Michael Murphy. Designated as DDG-112, the name honors Lt. Michael Murphy who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions during Operation Red Wing in Afghanistan on June 28, 2005.
Navy SEAL (Sea, Air, Land) Lt. Michael P. Murphy lead a four-man team tasked with finding a key Taliban leader in the mountainous terrain near Asadabad, Afghanistan, when they came under fire from a much larger enemy force with superior tactical position. Mortally wounded while exposing himself to enemy fire, Murphy knowingly left his position of cover to get a clear signal in order to communicate with his headquarters. While being shot at repeatedly, Murphy calmly provided his unit's location and requested immediate support for his element. He returned to his cover position to continue the fight until finally succumbing to his wounds.
Michael Murphy will be one of the U.S. Navy's most advanced, state-of-the-art warships in the fleet. With the combination of Aegis, the vertical launching system, and advanced anti-submarine warfare system, advanced anti-aircraft missiles and Tomahawk cruise missiles, the Arleigh Burke-class continues the revolution at sea. Utilizing a gas turbine propulsion system, Michael Murphy will be able to operate independently or as part of carrier strike groups, surface action groups, amphibious ready groups, and underway replenishment groups.
Michael Murphy will be the 62nd Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. The 9,200 ton ship is being built by Bath Iron Works, a General Dynamics Company and will be 509.5 feet in length, have a waterline beam of 59 feet, a crew size of 323 (23 officers and 300 enlisted) and she will make speed in excess of 30 knots.
Ping
May his ship never be sunk and if it is let it go down fighting enemies oof freedom.
Beats the crap out the “USS Jimmy Carter”! God help us that we ever come to a day where there’s talk of the “USS Barack Obama”!
Awesome.
RIP brave sir. We are lucky to have Americans like you. God Bless.
SOCOM Ping
The USS Barack Obama would serve to carry Americans to serve under UN control in Kosovo.
The Barack Obama will be a garbage scow called the USS B.O.
Oh Geez!
Murphy’s law dictates that this ship will soon reside on the bottom of some ocean!
Huh?!
Time has a way of sorting out the Washingtons, Jeffersons, Madisons and Lincolns from the likes of Carl Vinson, George HW Bush, John Stennis and Gerald Ford.
Rest in Heavenly Peace, brave hero ... BTTT!
No, this awesome ship will demonstrate a different “Murphy’s Law” as it protects American and rains death and destruction upon the enemies of humanity.
Rest now, sailor..
WOW!!
This is a great thing the Navy is doing.
On a side note, letter-writers to this month's 'The Penn Stater' alumni magazine are STILL livid that Michael Murphy was shunned for the feature cover story of the January 2nd issue in favor of another Penn State graduate - - the traitor, Valerie Plame.
OUTSTANDING!
You aren’t serious!!!
Abomination.
Is our hero left out
of cover contention
totally?
The editor, Tina Hay, was forced to respond because there was so much disgust at the Penn Stater’s decision to put Plame on the cover of the January issue instead of Murphy. She came up with an excuse that was pretty lame, IMO.
In fairness, Tina Hay does a nice job with the magazine and isn’t bashful about commenting on the political impact of the magazine’s cover and contents. She’s taken flak from all sides, but she certainly realizes that Penn State alumni (people who now pay taxes and raise families and have matured into conservatives) are NOT Penn State students (partying nincompoops, for the most part, who think they’re liberals). But she blew it with the January issue, big time.
I have a funny feeling that this big story about the Navy naming a destroyer in honor of Michael Murphy may be just the “golden platter” opportunity Tina needs to get it right. It would not surprise me to see Murphy gracing the cover of a coming issue. (Although B. Hussein Obama was on campus recently, so he may end up on the cover instead of Murphy - - in which case I, as a “life member,” will scream to high heaven for Hay’s firing.)
FRegards,
LH
Donald Winter Ping
Lt. Michael Murphy, MOH recipient more than deserves this honor.
At least Winter has done one thing right.
BTTT and a Canteen Ping — one of our Medal of Honor Heroes from the Monday Canteen threads gets the ship named for him.
Petty Officer Danny Dietz (SEAL Team 1)
Petty Officer Matthew Axelson (SEAL Team 1)
Navy Lt. Mike Murphy (SEAL Team 1)
Chief Warrant Officer Corey J. Goodnature (pilot, US Army 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment)
Chief Warrant Officer Chris J. Scherkenbach (pilot, US Army 160th SOAR)
Sgt. Kip A. Jacoby (US Army, 160th SOAR)
Sgt. 1st Class Marcus V. Muralles (US Army, 160th SOAR)
Chief Petty Officer Jacques J. Fontan (SEAL Team 10)
Lt. Cmdr. Erik S. Kristensen (SEAL Team 10)
Petty Officer 2nd Class James Suh (SEAL Team 1)
Petty Officer First Class Jeff Taylor (SEAL Team 1 medic)
Master Sgt. Michael Russell (US Army, 160th SOAR)
Maj. Steve Reich (pilot, US Army 160th SOAR)
Sgt. 1st Class James "Tre" Ponder III (US Army, 160th SOAR)
Petty Officer 2nd Class Eric Shane Patton (SEAL Team 1)
U.S. Navy Lt. Michael McGreevy (SEAL Team 10)
Petty Officer Jeffrey Alan Lucas (SEAM Team 10)
Senior Chief Petty Officer Dan Healy (SEAL Team 1) SSgt. Shamus
I can't help but rue the fact that had those SEALS done what it took to finish the mission, what should be considered an unfortunate neccessity to keep themselves alive in any situation where we order men behind enemy lines, they would have faced life in prison or worse at the hands of the very man who is naming that ship, comforting Lt Murphy's family and presenting the medal.
The rest of the damage SECNAV Winter has done to to the moral of our armed forces is history.
The four Seals zigzagged all night and through the morning until they reached a wooded slope. An Afghan man wearing a turban suddenly appeared, then a farmer and a teenage boy. Luttrell gave a PowerBar to the boy while the Seals debated whether the Afghans would live or die.
If the Seals killed the unarmed civilians, they would violate military rules of engagement; if they let them go, they risked alerting the Taliban. According to Luttrell, one Seal voted to kill them, one voted to spare them and one abstained. It was up to Luttrell.
Part of his calculus was practical. "I didn't want to go to jail." Ultimately, the core of his decision was moral. "A frogman has two personalities. The military guy in me wanted to kill them," he recalled. And yet: "They just seemed like -- people. I'm not a murderer."
Luttrell, by his account, voted to let the Afghans go. "Not a day goes by that I don't think about that decision," he said. "Not a second goes by."
At 1:20 p.m., about an hour after the Seals released the Afghans, dozens of Taliban members overwhelmed them. The civilians he had spared, Luttrell believed, had betrayed them. At the end of a two-hour firefight, only he remained alive...
ps, credit to blackfive.net for the names & story....thought I had that in there.
BTTT
As a parent or a spouse...I’d be “bitter”....I get your point.
If Hollyweird had a single brain in it's head (it doesn't), it would produce a movie exactly mirrored on the battle portion of this book and it would be the sellout movie of the year. Instead, they'll keep churning out more Iraq atrocity hit jobs (and money losers) defaming America and our troops. After all, what's more important to them - a craven political agenda or creating the greatest movie of the decade which would make Americans weep with pride and admiration at our military and the American spirit?
There's no question "which"...
So, it's probably left up to Mel Gibson - who would do a superb job of it.
Well said, boats!
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