DDG 117 Paul Ignatius

The U.S. Navy's newest guided missile destroyer, the USS Paul Ignatius, was commissioned 28 July 2019 at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, FL. The 500-foot long Arleigh Burke-class destroyer took four years and $2.2 billion to build. It is the Navy's 67th in the class of ship, and one of 21 currently under contract for construction.

The keel of the future USS Paul Ignatius (DDG 117) was authenticated during a ceremony at the Huntington Ingalls Industries shipyard 20 October 2015. The ship's keel was authenticated by its namesake, the Honorable Paul Ignatius and Mr. Bill Jones, the Hull Superintendent. Both authenticators etched their initials into the keel plate to symbolically recognize the joining of modular components and the ceremonial beginning of the ship.

"We are very honored that the namesake of DDG 117, The Honorable Paul Ignatius, is able to witness this milestone ceremony," said Capt. Mark Vandroff, DDG 51 class program manager, Program Executive Office (PEO) Ships. "Laying the keel breathes life into a ship and is the first major event in a shipbuilding program."

During World War II, Paul Ignatius served as a commissioned lieutenant in the Navy. Ignatius continued his service as Secretary of the Navy from 1967-1969 and later as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Installations and Logistics during the Lyndon B. Johnson administration. The future USS Paul Ignatius is the 67th ship of the Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) class and the first ship to bear his name.

Paul Ignatius, a Flight IIA ship, is the first ship in the FY2013-FY2017 multi-year procurement contract to start fabrication and is scheduled to deliver in 2018. Upon joining the Fleet as the 67th DDG 51 class ship, she will serve as an integral player in global maritime security, engaging in air, undersea, surface, strike and ballistic missile defense.

As one of the Defense Department's largest acquisition organizations, PEO Ships is responsible for executing the development and procurement of all destroyers, amphibious ships, special mission and support ships, and special warfare craft. Currently, the majority of shipbuilding programs managed by PEO Ships are benefiting from serial production efficiencies, which are critical to delivering ships on cost and schedule.

The U.S. Navy wrapped up a series of acceptance trials on its future USS Paul Ignatius destroyer ship built by Huntington Ingalls Industries. The Arleigh Burke-class vessel spent two days in the Gulf of Mexico before it returned to an HII shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss., Naval Sea Systems Command said 27 December 2018. The Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey collected data from at-sea demonstrations to assess the quality of construction and as well as the ship’s compliance with the military service’s requirements. Casey Moton, DDG 51 class program manager at the Navy, said the ship conducted a Standard Missile-2 shoot in previous builder’s trials that demonstrated the readiness of an Aegis weapon system onboard the vessel.

HII is scheduled to deliver USS Paul Ignatius to the service branch in early 2019.