Scott Nicholas
The U.S. Navy and General Dynamics will christen a new Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer on Saturday at a ceremony to be held at the company’s Bath Iron Works shipyard in Maine.
USS Thomas Hudner will be the fourth of 14 ships in the Navy’s DDG 51 program and is built with four gas turbine engines designed to power the ship to a speed of more than 30 knots, the Defense Department said Wednesday.
DDG 51-class destroyers are equipped with combat and survivability systems that offer multi-mission offensive and defensive capacities for the Navy.
The future USS Thomas Hudner, named after a naval aviator and Medal of Honor recipient, will also be the 66th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer built to function independently or operate as part of amphibious ready, carrier strike, surface action and underway replenishment groups.
Sean Stackley, acting secretary of the Navy, said the event will also honor Hudner as well as the dedicated men and women in the country’s shipbuilding industry that supported the DDG 116 construction project.
