Nichols Martin
The U.S. Navy has accepted delivery of a new Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer made by Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding division.
The Frank E. Petersen destroyer, also known as DDG 121, underwent a signing ceremony on Tuesday to become formally owned by the Navy, HII said Thursday.
Arleigh Burke-class ships are designed to support surface, subsurface and anti-air missions for power projection, crisis management and peacekeeping applications.
“Not only have they completed another major program milestone, but they have done so in the face of a pandemic,” Kari Wilkinson, president of Ingalls Shipbuilding, said about the DDG team.
Frank E. Petersen marks Ingalls’ 33rd destroyer made for the Navy. HII is now working on the Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee, Jack H. Lucas, Jeremiah Denton and Ted Stevens guided missile destroyers.
The newly delivered ship honors the name of Frank E. Petersen, the first African-American aircraft pilot of the U.S. Marine Corps.
