US Navy to name next destroyer after Medal of Honor recipient John Basilone

The U.S. Navy has announced that the new Arleigh Burke Class Destroyer (DDG-122) will be named in honor of Gunnery Sgt. John Basilone on August 16.

The naming ceremony will be held aboard Camp Pendleton and will be presided over by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus.

Gunnery Sgt. John Basilone received the medal of honor for heroism during the Battle of the Guadalcanal in World War Two. Basilone later also earned the Navy Cross award for his bravery on Iwo Jima thereby becoming the only enlisted Marine to receive both the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross in WWII.

Basilone died on Iwo Jima due to shrapnel wounds inflicted by Japanese mortar.

The USS Basilone is scheduled to be commissioned in 2022. The Flight IIA Technology Insertion destroyer will be built at the General Dynamics Bath Iron Works shipyard. General Dynamics was awarded $610.4 million for the ship construction in April 2015.