BATH, Maine — Shipbuilders at Bath Iron Works (BIW) on Monday cut the first steel for the newest Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, the future USS William Charette (DDG 130).
The destroyer is the 43rd of its class to be built in Bath, and the second with advanced Flight III radar and combat systems, the company said in a release.
To celebrate the start, longtime employees Sandy Haley, a master shipbuilder with 40 years of service, and Randy Bertrand, a master shipbuilder for 32 years, activated the burning machine at the BIW structural fabrication facility in East Brunswick.
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“The Navy is counting on us to get the shipyard back on schedule and starting construction of DDG 130 is an important step in that direction," BIW President Dirk Lesko said in a statement. "I appreciate the effort everyone is putting into keeping one another safe and healthy as we move forward together.”
The destroyer is named for William Charette, a Navy master chief hospital corpsman who earned the Medal of Honor during the Korean War. Charette repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire while treating injured Marines during fighting to retake a strategic hill on March 27, 1953, even after he incurred a head injury that left him temporarily unable to see.