The guided-missile destroyer USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51). Credit: U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class RJ Stratchko.

General Dynamics Bath Iron Works (GD BIW) has started construction on the US Navy’s Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.

The future USS Louis H Wilson Jr (DDG 126) is the first Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyer being built at GD BIW’s structural fabrication facility in Brunswick, Maine.

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Program Executive Office (PEO) Ships DDG 51 class programme manager, Captain Seth Miller said: “This is a tremendous occasion as we mark the start of construction on BIW’s first Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.

“General Wilson embodied the spirit of our nation in his will to protect his fellow Marines and countrymen. What better way to honour him than to build a highly capable warship that advances our navy’s ability to protect and defend our nation.”

DDG 126 is set to be named in honour of General Louis H Wilson Jr, the 26th commandant of the US Marine Corps and a World War II recipient of the Medal of Honor.

Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are being designed to conduct anti-air warfare and ballistic missile defence missions. These multi-mission surface combatants will be equipped with enhanced capability and capacity to support Integrated Air and Missile Defense missions.

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The ships will also engage in global maritime security, air, undersea, surface, and strike operations, as well as anti-submarine warfare, command and control, and anti-surface warfare.

The company is also building other Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, including Daniel Inouye (DDG 118), Carl M Levin (DDG 120) and John Basilone (DDG 122), Harvey C Barnum Jr (DDG 124), Patrick Gallagher (DDG 127) and Zumwalt class destroyer Lyndon B Johnson (DDG 1002).