The future Arleigh Burke-class USS Ralph Johnson (DDG-114) guided-missile destroyer during builder’s seat trials in the Gulf of Mexico. A House bill would require (Photo: U.S. Navy)
By Richard Abott |
7 years ago |
11/15/2017

Huntington Ingalls Industries [HII] delivered its latest Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer on Wednesday, the future USS Ralph Johnson (DDG-114), the Navy said.

DDG-114 was delivered at HII’s Pascagoula, Miss., facility following successful September in-port and at sea readiness trials conducted by the U.S. Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV).

The future Arleigh Burke-class USS Ralph Johnson (DDG-114) guided-missile destroyer during builder’s seat trials in the Gulf of Mexico. (Photo: U.S. Navy)
The future Arleigh Burke-class USS Ralph Johnson (DDG-114) guided-missile destroyer during builder’s seat trials in the Gulf of Mexico. (Photo: U.S. Navy)

DDG-114 is named after a Marine Medal of Honor recipient from the Vietnam War.

The Ralph Johnson is the 64th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer and will be the third ship in the DDG-51 Flight IIA restart. It features the Aegis Baseline 9 combat system that uses Raytheon [RTN] Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) interceptors for the Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) capability.

DDG-114 is the 30th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer HII has delivered to the Navy.

“We’re looking forward to commissioning a ship that will not only honor the legacy of one of our finest Marines but also provide today’s Sailors and Marines with one of our most capable warfighting assets,” Capt. Casey Moton, DDG-51 class program manager at Program Executive Office (PEO) Ships, said in a statement.

“Today’s delivery is a culmination of the hard work and dedication of thousands of shipbuilders, industry partners, the Navy and our Gulf Coast shipmates,” George Nungesser, Ingalls’ DDG program manager, added.

DDG-114 is set to sail out of the shipyard in February and be commissioned at a ceremony in Charleston, S.C., next March. After its commissioning, the Ralph Johnson will head toward its homeport in Everett, Wash.

The HII shipyard in Pascagoula is also producing future Flight IIA destroyers the Paul Ignatius (DDG-117), Delbert D. Black (DDG-119), Frank E. Petersen, Jr. (DDG-121), and Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG-123).

The company is contracted to build the future USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG-125), which will be the first Flight III ship. HII plans to start fabrication of it in 2018 as the 35th Aegis destroyer built for the Navy.

Separately, yesterday Huntington Ingalls Industries authenticated the keel of the Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee.

DDG-123 will be the second ship named after Higbee, one of the first members of the Navy Nurse Corps in 1908.

The Navy first funded HII to build DDG-123 in March 2016 at a total cost of $673 million (Defense Daily, March 30).