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The following was released by the Office of the Assistant to the
Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs):

                                 No. 289-94
                                 (703)697-5342(media)
                                 (703)697-3189(copies)
IMMEDIATE RELEASE  May 17, 1994  (703)697-5737(public/industry)

NAVY TO CHRISTEN OCEANOGRAPHIC SHIP SUMNER (T-AGS 61)

     A christening ceremony will be held for Sumner (T-AGS 61),
the U.S.  Navy's newest Oceanographic Research Vessel, on
Thursday, May 19, 1994 at Halter Marine, in Moss Point,
Mississippi, commencing at 1:00 p.m.  In the age old Navy
tradition, Ms. Marian Croyle and Ms. Pam Deleo,  co-sponsors of
the ship, will break a bottle of champagne over the bow and
formally name the ship.

     Representative Mike Parker (D-Miss) will be the principal
speaker at the ceremony.

     Sumner commemorates one previous ship (AGS 5) which was
named for the late merchant Captain Thomas Hubbard Sumner
(1807-1876) and earned three battle stars for service during
World War II.  Captain Sumner discovered the "Sumner Line of
Position" whereby a ship's position can be determined by taking
a series of angles of the sun.

     Sumner is the second of three new design oceanographic
vessels in the T-AGS 60 class.  Each are multi-mission
oceanographic ships capable of effectively performing operations
that will satisfy a broad spectrum of oceanographic requirements
in coastal and deep water areas, including physical, chemical
and biological oceanography, multi-disciplinary environmental
investigations, ocean engineering and marine acoustics, marine
geology and geophysics, and magnetometric surveying.

     The Sumner, crewed by civilian-mariners,  will be operated
for the Oceanographer of the Navy by the Military Sealift
Command.  The ship is 328 feet in length, has a beam of 58 feet
and displaces approximately 5,000 tons fully loaded.
                               -USN-