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| Sunday Morning NewsUSS Ronald Reagan to be ChristenedAired March 4, 2001 - 7:06 a.m. ETTHIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush heads to Virginia today for the christening of a ship named after one of his political heroes, Ronald Reagan. The former President's wife, Nancy, will crack the traditional champagne bottle to formerly name the aircraft carrier for Ronald Reagan. CNN White House correspondent Kelly Wallace is in Newport News, Virginia with all the details. Hi, Kelly. KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kyra. Well, a very windy morning here in Newport News. Where we are is a place where all U.S. aircraft carriers are built. Sitting behind me, the newest U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, as you mentioned, the USS Ronald Reagan, named after the 40th President of the United States. Now, to just give you a perspective here, the size and scope of this massive ship, it towers 20 stories above the water line and it is more than 1,000 feet long. That is as long as the Empire State Building is tall. Now, later on this day, there will be a ceremony. This ship will be christened. And Nancy Reagan, Ronald Reagan's wife, will be here. The former President will not be here. As many people know, of course, he is in California battling Alzheimer's disease. But Nancy Reagan will be here. It is the 49th anniversary -- wedding anniversary for that couple. A number of VIPs will be here, including the current President and Mrs. Bush. The Bush's are spending the weekend at Camp David. But they will be coming here for the ceremony later this afternoon. Mr. Bush expected to pay tribute to Ronald Reagan and the role that he has played in strengthening the defense. Now joining me is Tom Chieflobine (ph) on this very windy day, Chief Operating Officer of Newport News Ship Building. Tom, give us some perspective. What goes into building a ship of this size and scope? TOM CHIEFLOBINE, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, NEWPORT NEWS SHIP BUILDING: Well, it take about five or six years to build it. It could take a couple more years of test programming to get the ship ready to go to sea. It takes about five million man-days of effort to go into. So at any one time, we'll have between four and 5,000 people working on the carrier. WALLACE: Give us some more perspective of what's on this ship, how many people will be on there? How long it will last? CHIEFLOBINE: Well, in the end, the carrier is a floating airport. So it has about 3,000 sailors that operate the ship and it has about 3,000 people in the air wing to take care of the planes and then be the pilots. So it has 6,000 people. It has obviously the hotel facility for 6,000 and everything that goes along with the city of that size. WALLACE: What is it like for you and the other people here that this ship will named today in honor of Ronald Reagan? CHIEFLOBINE: Well, it really is a special location for Newport News Ship Building. Ronald Reagan came into office in the 80's and had obviously, had a big impact on increasing the number of ships, specifically aircraft carriers, submarines and we're just overjoyed that we also get to name the ship for the President that has had that big of an impact on our business. WALLACE: So with this weather, is the ceremony going to be indoors or outdoors? CHIEFLOBINE: Well, I was thinking about that. We're still hoping for outdoors. On the way down today, I don't think it would impact the President. So I don't think it's going to impact his namesake ship either. WALLACE: OK. Thanks for joining us. CHIEFLOBINE: Thank you. WALLACE: OK, Kyra. Well, that's the latest from here. The ceremony gets underway at about 2:00 this afternoon. Back to you. PHILLIPS: Sounds great, Kelly. We look forward to seeing more of the new ship. Take care. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com |
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