ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 2, 1996 TAG: 9601020186
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON POST
HE WAS CALLED ``31-KNOT BURKE'' and ``a sailor's sailor.'' The Navy named an entire class of destroyers after him.
Adm. Arleigh A. Burke, one of the great fighting sailors of World War II who as chief of Naval Operations became a leading architect of the postwar Navy, and became one of his service's most revered figures, died of pneumonia Monday at Bethesda Naval Hospital. He was 94.
He gained fame in World War II as the tactical commander of Destroyer Squadron 23 in the Pacific. His flamboyant and brilliant tactics included leading his squadron into battle at ``maximum speed'' and gained him the nickname ``31-Knot Burke.'' After the war, he became the only person to serve three terms as chief of naval operations, a post he held from 1955 until retiring from active duty in 1961.
As chief of naval operations, he led the Navy into the age of jet aircraft, guided missiles and nuclear submarines. He ordered the development and deployment of the Polaris system on the first of the submarines to armed with nuclear ballistic missiles.
After retirement, Burke helped found the Center for Strategic and International Studies at Georgetown University, an influential foreign and defense policy think tank. He directed the center for 15 years.
``We will remember him as one of America's finest sailors and most capable military leaders,'' President Clinton said from Hilton Head, S.C., where he was attending a New Year weekend gathering.
The current chief of naval operations, Adm. Mike Boorda, said Burke ``defined what it means to be a naval officer: relentless in combat, resourceful in command, and revered by his crews. He was a sailor's sailor.''
The Navy named a new class of destroyers, the most powerful ever built, the ``Arleigh Burke Class.'' There also is an Arleigh A. Burke Hall at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., and an annual Arleigh A. Burke competition for the best essay on leadership.
His funeral promises to be the largest and most impressive military funeral in at least 30 years. He will lie in state Thursday morning in the Naval Academy Chapel in Annapolis before services there at 11 a.m.
LENGTH: Short : 50 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: headshot of Burkeby CNB