Navy christens USS Hopper
By FCW Staff
Published on January 21, 1996
The Navy christened an Aegis-class destroyer named for Rear Adm. Grace Hopper, who led the service into the computer age. The USS Hopper is equipped with the Navy's most advanced computers and communications systems.
Hopper, who died in 1992, was known during her active career as the "Grand Old Lady of Software" and was the co-inventor of the Cobol programming language.
Hopper, who went on active duty in 1943, originally retired from the Navy in January 1967. She was recalled to active duty in August of that year by President Lyndon Johnson because of her much-needed expertise in applied computer science. Hopper retired for a second time in August 1986.
The USS Hopper is the second Navy warship named after a woman. The first was the USS Higbee, a destroyer commissioned in June 1944 and named after Lena Higbee, superintendent of the Navy Nurse Corps from 1911 to 1922.
The USS Hopper is 505 feet long, has beam of 66 feet, displaces 8,500 tons and has a crew of 23 officers and 330 sailors.
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