Workers at Bath Iron Works on Wednesday hit the switch on a steel-cutting machine to start construction of a new destroyer, the future USS Richard G. Lugar (DDG 136).
Kevin Ridley, a structural designer who’s worked 43 years for BIW, activated the machine, which cuts through steel by burning it. The work got underway at the shipyard’s structural fabrication facility in East Brunswick, not far from Cooks Corner and about 4.5 miles west of the main shipyard in Bath.
“We recognize how important it is from the first cut of steel to safely execute high-quality work in building this critical asset for the U.S. Navy,” said Charles Krugh, the company’s president.
The Lugar will be the 46th ship of its class built in Bath and the fifth Flight III Arleigh Burke destroyer to start construction at Bath Iron Works.
Advancements in radar and combat systems make Flight III Arleigh Burkes the most technologically advanced surface combatants in the world, according to a news release.
The ship is named for the late U.S. Sen. Richard G. Lugar, who represented Indiana in the U.S. Senate for 36 years. Lugar, who died in 2019, chaired and served as ranking member on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations for a total of 12 years.
In addition to the Lugar, Bath Iron Works has under construction the Flight IIA Arleigh Burke-class destroyers Harvey C. Barnum Jr. (DDG 124) and Patrick Gallagher (DDG 127) as well as the Flight III destroyers Louis H. Wilson Jr. (DDG 126), William Charette (DDG 130), Quentin Walsh (DDG 132) and John E. Kilmer (DDG 134).
In May, the company completed acceptance trials of the John Basilone (DDG 122) for the Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey.
The Arleigh Burke class is one of 10 classes of U.S. Navy destroyers built since 1902.
The class, considered the workhorse of the Navy’s fleet, is named after the USS Arleigh Burke, a 505-foot ship commissioned in 1991. Burke-class ships have been a staple of BIW’s shipbuilding for decades.
The Flight III design variant is centered on an air and missile defense radar system, and are considered the most technologically advanced surface warships in the world, the company said in a news release.
BIW is owned by Reston, Va.-based General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD) and has 6,600 employees.
Established in 1884, BIW is one of the largest private sector employers in Maine.
