Arthur McMiler
General Dynamics Bath Iron Works has begun building the future USS William Charette, a Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.
The company said Thursday that a keel-laying ceremony had taken place to mark the start of construction of the vessel, which was named to honor a U.S. Navy master chief hospital corpsman.
Charette received a Medal of Honor recognizing his services treating injured Marines while he himself was temporarily blinded and under fire during the Korean War.
For the ceremony, a steel plate bearing the initials of the ceremony’s sponsors—Charette’s daughters Margaret Ann, Kati and Laura—was welded on the destroyer’s keel.
The rite’s completion signals the start of the ship’s hull integration that precedes vessel launch and sea trials.
A Navy statement on the keel-laying event noted that the features of Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers include an air and missile defense radar, as well as electrical power and cooling capacity upgrades to enhance fleet warfighting capabilities.
