HII Delivers 73rd Arleigh Burke-Class Destroyer To US Navy

Delivery of DDG 123 represents the official transfer of the ship from the shipbuilder to the Navy.

“Delivering an incredibly capable finished ship to the Navy is always an important event for our Ingalls team,” said Kari Wilkinson, president of Ingalls Shipbuilding. “We are absolutely committed to the work that we do for our customers, communities and country.”

Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee is the 34th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer Ingalls has delivered to the Navy and will be the final Flight IIA ship built at Ingalls as the Navy transitions to Flight III destroyers. Ingalls currently has in production the future Arleigh Burke-class Flight III destroyers Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125), Ted Stevens (DDG 128), Jeremiah Denton (DDG 129) and George M. Neal (DDG 131).

Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are highly capable, multi-mission ships that can conduct a variety of operations, from peacetime presence and crisis management to sea control and power projection, all in support of the national defense strategy. Guided missile destroyers are capable of simultaneously fighting air, surface and subsurface battles. These ships contain a myriad of offensive and defensive weapons designed to support maritime defense needs well into the 21st century.

DDG 123 is named to honor Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee, a Navy nurse and first woman to receive the Navy Cross for her heroic actions during World War I. Higbee joined the Navy in October 1908 as part of the newly established Navy Nurse Corps, a group of women who would become known as “The Sacred Twenty,” and became the second superintendent of the Navy Nurse Corps in January 1911. The ships motto truly reflects the heritage of this naval hero — Bellatrix illa, meaning “she is a warrior.”