USS Delbert D. Black (DDG 119) Christening

PASCAGOULA, Miss. (Nov. 4, 2017) Ship’s Sponsor Ima J. Black christens DDG 119, the destroyer named for her late husband, Delbert D. Black, the first Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy. Also pictured, left to right, are Rep. Gregg Harper, R-Miss.; Lt. Cmdr. Mark Gallagher, prospective executive officer, DDG 119; Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Steven S. Giordano; Marilyn Kendall, matron of honor; and Ingalls Shipbuilding President Brian Cuccias. (U.S. Navy photo courtesy Huntington Ingals Industries by Andrew Young/Released)

Originally published in MAREX, 4 November 2017.

The U.S. Navy christened its newest guided-missile destroyer the future USS Delbert D. Black (DDG 119) on Saturday Huntington Ingalls Industries Shipbuilding.

The future USS Delbert D. Black 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 CNO and to the Chief of Naval Personnel in matters dealing with enlisted Sailors and their families.

Mrs. Ima Black, MCPON Black’s widow and a World War II Navy veteran herself, broke a bottle of sparkling wine across the bow to formally christen the ship.

Delbert D. Black 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.

Delbert D. Black 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 Navy with a 21st century fighting edge.

The nearly 9,500-ton Delbert D. Black is 509.5 feet in length, has a waterline beam of 59 feet and has a navigational draft of 31 feet. Four gas turbine engines will power the ship to speeds in excess of 30 knots.