A new Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer has been officially transferred by HII‘s Ingalls Shipbuilding subsidiary to the U.S. Navy.
The DDG-123 destroyer will be named after Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee, the first woman to be honored with the distinguished Navy Cross for her service as the second Superintendent of the Navy Nurse Corps during World War I, the branch said Thursday.
The future USS Higbee is the last Flight IIA ship developed by Ingalls before the Navy’s transition to Flight III destroyers. The company built 34 such units with the Aegis Combat System. The system’s Baseline 9C2 allows for optimum electronic countermeasures, high firepower and quick response time to threats.
The construction and delivery of the vessel was commissioned by the Naval Sea Systems Command’s Program Executive Office Ships. Capt. Seth Miller, PEO Ships’ DDG 51 class program manager, said that the arrival of DDG-123 “comes at a critical time to the Nation and will further strengthen the Navy’s Surface Fleet.”
The Ingalls Pascagoula shipyard is working on Flight III DDGs, to be named the USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125), USS Ted Stevens (DDG 128), USS Jeremiah Denton (DDG 129) and USS George M. McNeal (DDG 131).