Military

DDG 100 Kidd

The Navy christened the Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer Kidd, on Jan. 22, 2005, during a ceremony at Northrop Grumman Ship Systems - Ingalls Operations in Pascagoula, Miss.

Vice Adm. Phillip Balisle, commander, Naval Sea Systems Command, delivered the principal address. Regina Kidd Wolbarsht and Mary Corrinne Kidd Plumer served as sponsors of the ship named for their grandfather.

On April 22, 2004, Secretary of the Navy, Gordon R. England, named DDG 100 in honor of Medal of Honor recipient Rear Adm. Isaac Campbell Kidd, USN.

DDG 100, the newest ship to bear the name Kidd, is being built by North Grumman Ship Systems in Pascagoula, Miss. The Kidd is a Flight IIA variant of the Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer, and incorporates a helicopter hanger facility into the original design. The ship can carry two SH-60B/R helicopters. Guided-missile destroyers operate independently and in conjunction with carrier strike groups, surface action groups, expeditionary strike groups and replenishment groups.

The keel laying for the third ship to be named Kidd took place April 29, 2004 at Northrop Grumman Ship Systems - Ingalls Operations Shipyard. Isaac Campbell Kidd, III, grandson of the ship's namesake, Medal of Honor recipient Rear Adm. Isaac Campbell Kidd was on site for the keel laying.

Previous Ships

Two previous U.S. Navy destroyers have been named in honor of Kidd. USS Kidd (DD 661), 1943-1974, which is still afloat as a memorial at Baton Rouge, La.; and USS Kidd (DDG 993) which served from 1981-1998 and was then sold to Taiwan.

Rear Adm. Isaac Campbell Kidd, USN

Kidd was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on March 26, 1884 and graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1906. His distinguished career included participation in the World Cruise of the "Great White Fleet" 1907-1909 aboard the battleship USS New Jersey. He also served in the battleship USS North Dakota, and the cruiser USS Pittsburgh. He served as aide and flag secretary to the commander in chief, Pacific Fleet, the first of his many staff assignments and was an instructor at the United States Naval Academy from 1916-17.

During and after the First World War, Kidd was stationed aboard battleship USS New Mexico, and later he had staff and Naval Academy service. He was executive officer of the battleship USS Utah and commanded the support ship USS Vega until his assignment as Captain of the Port at Chrisobal, Panama Canal Zone from 1927-30.

Promoted to the rank of Captain, he was chief of staff to commander, Base Force, U.S. Fleet in 1930-32. After three years at the Bureau of Navigation in Washington, D.C., he was commander Destroyer Squadron One, Scouting Force, in 1935-36.

Captain Kidd next attended the Naval War College and served on the College staff. He was commanding officer of the battleship USS Arizona from September 1938 until February 1940. He was promoted to Rear Admiral and assigned as commander Battleship Division One and chief of staff to commander, Battleships, Battle Force.

On Dec. 7, 1941, he was killed in action on board USS Arizona during Japanese Navy's attack on Pearl Harbor. Kidd was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Pearl Harbor attack. He was the first flag officer to lose his life in World War II, and the first in the U.S. Navy to meet death in action against any foreign enemy.