On Tuesday, April 6, General Dynamics (GD) Bath Iron Works (BIW) celebrated the keel laying of the future USS Harvey C. Barnum, Jr. (DDG-124). The U.S. Navy named the ship in honor of Marine Corps Colonel Harvey C. Barnum, Jr., a Medal of Honor recipient who attended Tuesday’s ceremony. Colonel Barnum served in the Vietnam War and continued to serve his country afterward, eventually being named Acting Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Manpower and Reserve Affairs). The ship’s sponsor is Martha Hill, Colonel Barnum’s wife.
Colonel Barnum and Ms. Hill authenticated the keel by striking welding arcs onto a steel plate that will be incorporated into the ship. They were assisted by Marty Fish, a Specialist Welder and work leader with 34 years of experience at BIW, currently working on Main Machinery Room 1 of DDG-124. The laying of the keel and its authentication signifies the start of hull integration and the pre-cursor to final integration, launch and sea trials.
Ed Kenyon, Director of New Construction Programs for Bath Iron Works, hosted the ceremony and welcomed the audience, which included Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Harker, Maine Senators Susan Collins and Angus King, Representative Chellie Pingree, Navy personnel and BIW employees. «The keel-laying ceremony is an opportunity to re-affirm our commitment that a Bath-built ship is best built, at all stages of construction». Kenyon said. «We are proud to be building the Harvey C. Barnum, Jr. We will ensure that Colonel Barnum’s ship will be ready to serve our nation, nobly, as he did during his service in Vietnam and subsequent service to our nation».
CHARACTERISTICS
| Length Overall | 525 feet/160 m |
| Beam – Waterline | 65.6 feet/20 m |
| Draft | 32.8 feet/10 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 | AN/SPY-6 Air and Missile Defense Radar (Raytheon Company) 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 96 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 | 04-23-17 | 12-01-18 | Mayport, Florida |
| DDG-117 Paul Ignatius | HIIIS | 11-12-16 | 07-27-19 | Mayport, Florida |
| DDG-118 Daniel Inouye | GDBIW | 10-27-19 | Pearl Harbor, Hawaii | |
| DDG-119 Delbert D. Black | HIIIS | 09-08-17 | 09-26-20 | Mayport, Florida |
| DDG-120 Carl M. Levin | GDBIW | |||
| DDG-121 Frank E. Peterson Jr. | HIIIS | 07-13-18 | ||
| DDG-122 John Basilone | GDBIW | |||
| DDG-123 Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee | HIIIS | 01-27-20 | ||
| DDG-124 Harvey C. Barnum Jr. | GDBIW | |||
| DDG-127 Patrick Gallagher | GDBIW |