Bath Iron Works Lays Keel Of Guided Missile Destroyer DDG 115, Begins Fabrication Of DDG 118

General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Works laid the keel of the 35th Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer DDG 115, the company announced in an Oct. 30 release.

The ship is named for U.S. Marine Corps Sgt Rafael Peralta, who was deployed to Iraq in Operation Iraqi Freedom and was killed Nov. 15, 2004, during the Second Battle of Fallujah in house-to-house urban combat at the age of 25.

The keel unit is the 3,000-ton, heavily outfitted mid-section of the ship which contains its main machinery spaces, and is the “heart” of the ship. The unit is roughly a third of the entire ship, and was moved from the shipyard’s Ultra Hall construction facility earlier in the month onto the building ways.

Ed Kenyon, DDG 51 program manager for Bath Iron Works said, “Over the coming months, we will continue to build the Rafael Peralta with knowledge and expertise honed over the decades. She will be a true and steady vessel and will reflect the spirit of her namesake.”

Bath Iron Works also plans to start the fabrication of Daniel Inouye (DDG 118) on Oct. 31, in a short ceremony at the company’s Hardings facility in West Bath. DDG 118 is also an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer. This ship is named after the late Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in Tuscany, Italy, during World War II.

The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer is a multi-mission combatant that offers defense against a wide range of threats, including ballistic missiles. It operates in support of carrier battle groups, surface action groups, amphibious groups and replenishment groups, providing a complete array of anti-submarine, anti-air and anti-surface capabilities. Designed for survivability, the ships incorporate all-steel construction and have gas turbine propulsion. The combination of the ships’ AEGIS combat system, the Vertical Launching System, an advanced ASW system, two embarked MH-60R helicopters, advanced anti-aircraft missiles and Tomahawk anti-ship and land-attack missiles make the Arleigh Burke class one of the most powerful surface combatants ever put to sea.