The U.S. Navy’s Aegis-equipped Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Ralph Johnson (DDG 114) was launched at the Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) shipyard December 12. The ship was translated from the land level facility to the drydock which was slowly flooded until the ship was afloat. You can watch the video of the operation here .
Captain Mark Vandroff , DDG 51 class program manager, said: “This is an exciting milestone and represents a significant amount of effort by our Navy and industry team to get the ship to this point. We’re looking forward to completing outfitting efforts, undergoing test and trials and delivering another highly-capable asset to our Fleet.”
According to the U.S. Navy, Ralph Johnson, a Flight IIA destroyer, will be equipped with Aegis Baseline 9 which incorporates Integrated Air and Missile Defense and enhanced Ballistic Missile Defense capabilities.
Ralph Johnson will be the 64th Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) class destroyer, and will be the 30th ship built by the Pascagoula shipyard. In addition to DDG 114, HII is currently constructing the future Arleigh Burke class ships, John Finn (DDG 113), Paul Ignatius (DDG 117) and Delbert Black (DDG 119).
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