The U.S. Navy christened the newest guided-missile destroyer, the future USS Delbert D. Black (DDG-119), Saturday, November 4, during a 10 a.m. CST ceremony at Huntington Ingalls Industries Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
The future USS Delbert D. Black (DDG-119) is the first ship to bear the name of a Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON) and is named for the first person to hold that office. Black began his 30-year Navy career in the spring of 1941. After completing recruit training, he reported to his first assignment, USS Maryland (BB-46) in Pearl Harbor, where he witnessed the Japanese attack that drew the United States into World War II. Over the next 26 years, he rose through the ranks to Gunner’s Mate Master Chief before his selection in 1967 to serve as the first MCPON. The MCPON is the senior enlisted leader in the Navy and serves as an advisor to the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) and to the Chief of Naval Personnel (CNP) in matters dealing with enlisted Sailors and their families.
MCPON Steven S. Giordano, 14th and current Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, served as the principal speaker during the ceremony. During the event, Mrs. Ima Black, MCPON Black’s widow and a World War II Navy veteran herself, served as the ship’s sponsor and broke a bottle of sparkling wine across the bow to formally christen the ship, a time-honored Navy tradition.
«It is a fitting tribute to the master chief who set the tone for all of us to follow as authentic, competent and courageous leaders», Giordano said. «This ship represents the enlisted force perhaps more than any other ship in the Navy».
USS Delbert D. Black (DDG-119) will be the 69th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer and is currently the fifth of 13 ships currently under contract for the DDG-51 program. The ship will be configured as a Flight IIA destroyer, which enables power projection, forward presence and escort operations at sea in support of low intensity conflict/coastal and littoral offshore warfare, as well as open ocean conflict.
USS Delbert D. Black (DDG-119) will be equipped with the Navy’s Aegis Combat System, the world’s foremost integrated naval weapon. The ship will also incorporate Cooperative Engagement Capability that when combined with the Aegis Combat System, will permit groups of ships and aircraft to link radars to provide a composite picture of the battle space-effectively increasing the theater space. The capability is designed to provide the U.S. Navy with a 21st Century fighting edge.
The nearly 9,500-ton Delbert D. Black is 510 feet/156 m in length, has a waterline beam of 59 feet/18 m and a navigational draft of 30.5 feet/9.3 m. Four gas turbine engines will power the ship to speeds in excess of 30 knots/34.5 mph/55.5 km/h.
Ship Characteristics
| Length Overall | 510 feet/156 m |
| Beam – Waterline | 59 feet/18 m |
| Draft | 30.5 feet/9.3 m |
| Displacement – Full Load | 9,217 tons/9,363 metric tons |
| Power Plant | 4 General electric LM 2500-30 gas turbines; 2 shafts; 2 CRP (Contra-Rotating) propellers; 100,000 shaft horsepower/75,000 kW |
| Speed | in excess of 30 knots/34.5 mph/55.5 km/h |
| Range | 4,400 NM/8,149 km at 20 knots/23 mph/37 km/h |
| Crew | 380 total: 32 Officers, 27 CPO (Chief Petty Officer), 321 OEM |
| Surveillance | SPY-1D Phased Array Radar and Aegis Combat System (Lockheed Martin); SPS-73(V) Navigation; SPS-67(V)3 Surface Search; 3 SPG-62 Illuminator; SQQ-89(V)6 sonar incorporating SQS-53C hull mounted and SQR-19 towed array sonars used with Mark-116 Mod 7 ASW fire control system |
| Electronics/Countermeasures | SLQ-32(V)3; Mark-53 Mod 0 Decoy System; Mark-234 Decoy System; SLQ-25A Torpedo Decoy; SLQ-39 Surface Decoy; URN-25 TACAN; UPX-29 IFF System; Kollmorgen Mark-46 Mod 1 Electro-Optical Director |
| Aircraft | 2 embarked SH-60 helicopters ASW operations; RAST (Recovery Assist, Secure and Traverse) |
| Armament | 2 Mark-41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) with 90 Standard, Vertical Launch ASROC (Anti-Submarine Rocket) & Tomahawk ASM (Air-to-Surface Missile)/LAM (Loitering Attack Missile); 5-in (127-mm)/54 (62) Mark-45 gun; 2 (1) CIWS (Close-In Weapon System); 2 Mark-32 triple 324-mm torpedo tubes for Mark-46 or Mark-50 ASW torpedos |
Guided Missile Destroyers Lineup
Flight IIA: Technology Insertion
| Ship | Yard | Launched | Commissioned | Homeport |
| DDG-116 Thomas Hudner | GDBIW | 04-01-17 | ||
| DDG-117 Paul Ignatius | HIIIS | 11-12-16 | ||
| DDG-118 Daniel Inouye | GDBIW | |||
| DDG-119 Delbert D. Black | HIIIS | 09-08-17 | ||
| DDG-120 Carl M. Levin | GDBIW | |||
| DDG-121 Frank E. Peterson Jr. | HIIIS | |||
| DDG-122 John Basilone | GDBIW | |||
| DDG-123 Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee | HIIIS |