On April 24, Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding division delivered the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer Delbert D. Black (DDG 119) to the US Navy.
Prior to delivery, the ship successfully conducted a series of at-sea and pier-side trials to demonstrate its material and operational readiness.
Delbert D. Black is scheduled to sail away from the shipyard in August 2020.
Documents signed on Friday mark the official transfer of custody of the ship from HII to the US Navy.
“The DDG 51 shipbuilding program and Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Gulf Coast are proud to accept delivery of Delbert D. Black on behalf of the navy, an look forward to her commissioning later this year,” Capt. Seth Miller, DDG 51 class program manager, Program Executive Office (PEO) Ships, said.
DDG 119 is the first ship named in honor of navy veteran Delbert D. Black, who served as a gunner’s mate and was aboard the battleship USS Maryland (BB 46) during the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
In addition to Delbert D. Black, HII’s Pascagoula shipyard is also currently in production on the future destroyers Frank E. Peterson Jr. (DDG 121), and Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG 123), as well as the Flight III ships, Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125), and Ted Stevens (DDG 128).
Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are highly capable, multi-mission ships and can conduct a variety of operations, from peacetime presence and crisis management to sea control and power projection, all in support of the United States military strategy. Guided-missile destroyers are capable of simultaneously fighting air, surface and subsurface battles. The ship contains myriad offensive and defensive weapons designed to support maritime defense needs well into the 21st century.