DDG 123 keel authenticated

PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding division authenticated the keel of the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG 123) Tuesday. The ship is named in honor of the first woman to receive the Navy Cross. DDG 123 will be the second ship named for Higbee. The first was a destroyer commissioned in 1945 and was the first U.S. Navy surface combatant named for a female member of the Navy. The Canadian-born U.S. Navy nurse served as Superintendent of the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps during WWI. She was among the first 20 nurses - "The Sacred Twnety" - to serve in the Navy. Ingalls has delivered 29 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers to the Navy. Other destroyers currently under construction at Ingalls includeRalph Johnson (DDG 114), Paul Ignatius (DDG 117), Delbert D. Black (DDG 119) and Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG 121). (Source: HII, 11/14/17)