Brenda Marie Rivers
Huntington Ingalls Industries
 and the U.S. Navy launched Friday the service branch’s future Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer Frank E. Petersen Jr. at a company shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss.
HII said Monday the ship, designated as DDG 121, was transferred to a floating dry dock with a rail car system, then the structure was moved away from the pier and ballasted down to float the vessel.
“Serial production has allowed us the opportunity for learning that has been vital to the continued progress of the DDG 51 program,” said George Nungesser, a program manager at HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division.
The ship will have a Flight IIA configuration that works to support power projection, escort and forward presence operations, according to the Navy.
DDG21 is designed to employ baseline 9 of the Aegis Combat System equipped with cooperative engagement, firepower and electronic countermeasures features.
