The Navy and General Dynamics’ [GD] Bath Iron Works (BIW) announced the start of fabrication of another Arleigh Burke-class (DDG-51) Flight III destroyer, the future USS Quentin Walsh (DDG-132), in a ceremony on Nov. 16.
DDG-132 will be the sixth overall Flight III DDG-51, which means it will feature the new AN/SPY-6(V)1 Air and Missile Defense Radar to better detect and track air and missile threats. It features upgrades to the electrical and cooling capacity as well as increased space for the radar.
The Navy noted the Flight III baseline starts with vessels DDG-125 and 126 and then continues with DDG-128 and follow-on vessels.
The ceremony occurred at the BIW Structural Fabrication Facility in East Brunswick, Maine.
DDG-132 is named after a Coast Guard officer who earned the Navy Cross in World War II.
“We are engaged in a long-term competition and the future USS Quentin Walsh will provide the strategic capabilities needed to support the fleet for decades to come. Capt. Walsh provided selfless service to his country and this warship will help to continue his honorable legacy,” Capt. Seth Miller, DDG 51 program manager at Program Executive Office Ships, said in a statement.
Relatedly, BIW is also in production on the DDG-51 Flight IIA destroyers: the future USS Carl M. Levin (DDG-120), John Basilone (DDG-122), Harvey C. Barnum Jr. (DDG-124), and Patrick Gallagher (DDG 127).
The first Flight III destroyer will be the future USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG-125), being built by the destroyer shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries [HII].
BIW is also in production on the second Flight III destroyer, the future Louis H. Wilson Jr. (DDG-126), and the fifth overall Flight III vessel, the William Charette (DDG-130).