Rear Admiral Grace Hopper

Detroit Free Press / Friday, Aug. 15, 1986 (page 4A)

Computer whiz retires from navy

BOSTON - (UPI) - Rear Adm. Grace Murray Hopper, at 79 the Navy's oldest and highest-ranking woman commissioned officer on active duty, retired Thursday in ceremonies aboard the Navy's oldest commissioned warship, the USS Constitution. Hopper is regarded as "the grandmother" of the computer age and is credited with developing COBOL, one of the first computer languages. She served the Navy for 43 years. Hopper ... is given credit for devising the computer term "bug".

[ AP Photo of RADM Hopper ]

LTJG Hopper - 1943	www.GraceHopper.org	CAPT Hopper - 1980	RDML Hopper - 1986

Rear Adm. Grace M. Hopper, USN Retired, died on New Year's Day in 1992. (Visit her grave.) In honor of her, I had this plaque engraved for the dash board of my Pontiac TransSport. In Star Trek®, each Federation Starship portrayed has a plaque like this on the bridge, even if it only appears in the corner of a shot from a distance too small to read. I like to pretend that it is a Federation Ptolemy Class Transport/Tug assigned to Colonial Support and based at Earth Station McKinley. I have several Star Trek® pins on the dash beside the plaque, and a small model of a transport/tug that is about 5cm long.

I took possession of the Adm. Gracie on May 17, 1992. Little did I know that the U.S. Navy would only take four years to name a vessel after her, and a guided-missile destroyer at that! (Unfortunately, I had to give up possession of the Adm. Gracie in January, 2007, because I could not afford the registration and insurance for another year.)

U.S.S. GRACE M. HOPPER
PTOLEMY CLASS · STARFLEET REGISTRY NCC-3957
UTOPIA PLANITIA STARSHIP YARDS, MARS
COMMISSIONED STARDATE 92051.7
"We're debugging the computer, sir."

(Star Trek® is a registered trademark of Paramount Pictures.)

Here is the official US Navy page for Adm. Grace Hopper:
http://www.history.navy.mil/bios/hopper.htm

Be sure to visit the official page for USS Hopper (DDG-70):
http://www.hopper.navy.mil/

USS Hopper (DDG-70), an Arleigh Burke Class Destroyer, was christened by the US Navy at Bath Iron Works (Bath, Maine) in January, 1996. Named after RADM Grace M. Hopper, the "Amazing Grace" will compliment the Ticonderoga Class of AEGIS guided missile cruisers as one of the 29 ships in the Burke Class.
front of coin

Commemorative bronze coin for DDG-70

Rear Admiral Grace Hopper

Detroit Free Press / Friday, Aug. 15, 1986 (page 4A)

Computer whiz retires from navy

Here is the official US Navy page for Adm. Grace Hopper: http://www.history.navy.mil/bios/hopper.htm

Be sure to visit the official page for USS Hopper (DDG-70): http://www.hopper.navy.mil/

More links to other testimonials, etc., in no particular order

Here is the official US Navy page for Adm. Grace Hopper:
http://www.history.navy.mil/bios/hopper.htm

Be sure to visit the official page for USS Hopper (DDG-70):
http://www.hopper.navy.mil/