Namesake Ralph H. Johnson Laid down 12 September 2014 Construction started 12 September 2014 Length 156 m Beam 20 m | Ordered 26 September 2011 Christened 2 April 2016 Launched 12 December 2015 Displacement 8.362 million kg Builder Ingalls Shipbuilding | |
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Name Ralph Johnson (DDG-114) Sponsored by Georgeann Brady McRaven | ||
New navy destroyers named uss john finn uss ralph johnson and uss rafael peralta
Ralph Johnson (DDG-114) will be an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. The contract to build her was awarded on 26 September 2011 to Ingalls Shipbuilding of Pascagoula, Mississippi. On 15 February 2012, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced the ship's named to be Ralph Johnson in honor of Marine Ralph H. Johnson, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for shielding two fellow Marines from a grenade in March 1968 during the Vietnam War. The contract was worth $697.6 million fixed price, and was also the 30th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer contract issued to Ingalls Shipbuilding.
Ralph Johnson will be the 64th ship of the Arleigh Burke class of destroyers, the first of which, USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51), was commissioned in July 1991. With 75 ships planned to be built in total, the class has the longest production run for any U.S. Navy surface combatant. As an Arleigh Burke-class ship, Ralph Johnson's roles included anti-aircraft, anti-submarine, and anti-surface warfare, as well as strike operations. During it long production run, the class was built in three flights—Flight I (DDG-51–DDG-71), Flight II (DDG-72–DDG-78), and Flight IIA (DDG-79– ). Ralph Johnson will be a Flight IIA ship, and as such, will feature several improvements in terms of ballistic missile defence, an embarked air wing, and the inclusion of mine-detecting ability.
In 2008, the U.S. Navy decided to restart production of the Arleigh Burke class as orders for the Zumwalt-class destroyer was reduced from ten to three. The first three ships (DDG-113—DDG-115) ordered following the product decision are known as the "restart" ships, while "technology insertion" ships (DDG-116—DDG-123) are expected to incorporate certain elements of Arleigh Burke class Flight III, which in turn will run from DDG-124 onwards. As a "restart" ship, Ralph Johnson will primarily feature upgraded avionics; she was originally scheduled to be delivered in August 2016, but construction was delayed and delivery is scheduled for late 2017 after her sea trials are completed in the middle of the year.
