Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) Ray Mabus announced that the future Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer (DDG 119) will be named USS Delbert D. Black after the first master chief petty officer of the Navy (MCPON) at a ship naming ceremony held at the Navy Memorial in Washington March 13.
The ceremony was attended by numerous distinguished visitors, to include MCPON Black’s surviving widow, Mrs. Ima Black, as well as the current MCPON, Mike Stevens.
Born July 22, 1922, in Orr, Oklahoma, Delbert D. Black graduated from high school in 1940 and enlisted in the Navy on March 14, 1941. Upon completion of recruit training in San Diego, California, he was assigned to USS Maryland (BB 46) and was aboard in Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Surviving the attack, Black’s career went on to span thirty years, culminating in his selection as the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy on Jan. 13, 1967.
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Image: US Navy