The U.S. Navy marked the commissioning of the USS Carl M. Levin guided-missile destroyer, built by General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Works subsidiary, with an event that took place Saturday in Baltimore, Maryland.
At the event, the service branch celebrated the keel laying, mast stepping and christening of the Arleigh Burke-class combat vessel named after the late Sen. Carl Milton Levin, D-Mich.
Milton was a chairman and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, advocating for the wage increases and other policies for servicemen and their families. He served the Senate for a record 36 years, during which he pushed for initiatives to improve and maintain the global leadership of American manufacturing.
Carlos Del Toro, secretary of the Navy and a 2023 Wash100 awardee, said the destroyer “supports not just the strike force, but our entire nation by guaranteeing our unencumbered access to a free and open maritime commons and serves as the lifeblood of our economy.”
Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii will homeport the 510-foot-long and 9,496-ton vessel.
