Fabrication of US Navy destroyer Jack H Lucas begins

Huntington Ingalls Industries’ shipbuilding division has started fabrication of the Arleigh Burke-class (DDG 51) destroyer Jack H Lucas (DDG 125).

The start of fabrication signifies the first 100 tonnes of steel have been cut on the first Flight III ship in the class of destroyers.

Flight III will incorporate an advanced missile defence radar (AMDR) that will replace the existing SPY-1 radar installed on the previous DDG 51 ships.

She is named after Captain Jack H Lucas, who, at the age of 14, forged his mother’s signature to join the US Marine Corps Reserves during World War II.

He saved the lives of three fellow Marines when, after two enemy hand-grenades were thrown into a US trench, he placed himself on one grenade while simultaneously pulling the other under his body.

One of the grenades did not explode; the other exploded but only injured Lucas.

Lucas is the youngest Marine and the youngest service member in World War II to receive the Medal of Honor.

Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are multi-mission ships that can simultaneously fight air, surface and subsurface battles.

They conduct a variety of operations, from peacetime presence and crisis management to sea control and power projection.


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