DDG-17 completes acceptance trials

The guided-missile destroyer Paul Ignatius (DDG-117) recently completed acceptance trials ahead of an expected early 2019 delivery to the Navy, Naval Sea System Command announced Dec. 21. The Flight IIA Arleigh Burke-class destroyer spent two days in the Gulf of Mexico working through a series of demonstrations/tests for the U.S. Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey. “The ship performed very well, which is a testament to the preparation and commitment of the Navy-shipbuilder team,” Capt. Casey Moton, DDG 51 class program manager, said in a statement. The Pascagoula, Miss.-based Huntington Ingalls Industries built Ignatius. It is set to be the first destroyer commissioned of a 10-ship, multi-year Arleigh Burke-class (DDG-51) procurement. The contract was awarded to HII and Bath (Maine) Iron Works in 2013 that followed a 2008, four-ship restart of the Burke line. In September, the two companies were awarded a multi-year deal for Flight III Arleigh Burkes with a combined value of about $9B. (Source: USNI News 12/21/18)