The US Navy has taken delivery of its 73rd Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG 123) from HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division.
The Thursday’s delivery of DDG 123 represents the official transfer of the ship from the shipbuilder to the navy, following its christening in April 2021.
“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.”
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.”
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.
As a Flight IIA ship, Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee will employ the Aegis Baseline 9 combat system, which includes Integrated Air and Missile Defense capability, delivers quick reaction time, high firepower, and has increased electronic countermeasures capability for anti-air warfare.
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 multi-mission surface combatants capable of conducting anti-air warfare (AAW), anti-submarine warfare (ASW), and anti-surface warfare (ASuW). The destroyer’s armament has greatly expanded the role of the ship in strike warfare utilizing the MK-41 vertical launching system (VLS), and, beginning with ships equipped with Aegis Baseline 9, Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD).
