Future USS Carl M. Levin (DDG-120) completed its Navy acceptance trials on Friday, General Dynamics Bath Iron Works announced.
Bath Iron Works spent three days in the Gulf of Maine operating the ship and testing its hull, mechanical and electrical systems, according to a Friday news release from the company. Acceptance trials ensure the ship is operational before delivery to the Navy.
Carl M. Levin is the next Arleigh Burke-class destroyer that Bath Iron Works is expected to deliver to the Navy. The Maine-based shipbuilding company delivered USS Daniel Inouye (DDG-118) in March 2021, about a month after it completed acceptance trials.
Daniel Inouye was delivered behind schedule – it was originally scheduled for a 2018 delivery – due to various delays, including a labor dispute and COVID-19 pandemic slowdown, USNI News previously reported.
Carl M. Levin is named for Michigan’s longest-serving senator, Carl Levin, who died in 2021. Levin was a longtime chairman and ranking member of the Senate Armed Service Committee. The ship was christened in October 2021, with Levin’s three daughters serving as the ship’s sponsors.
Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro also attended the ceremony.
“The late Senator Carl Levin said that public service is in his DNA,” Del Toro said in a statement from the christening ceremony. “Senator Levin’s decisions leading the Senate Armed Services Committee shaped our nation and Navy for the better. It is my honor, on behalf of the Navy, and with his three daughters serving as sponsor, to expand his legacy by christening a namesake ship, USS Carl Levin.”
In addition to Carl Levin, Bath Iron Works is working on John Basilone (DDG-122), Harvey C. Barnum (DDG-124), Patrick Gallagher (DDG-127) and Flight III ships Louis H. Wilson, Jr. (DDG-126), William Charette (DDG-130) and Quentin Walsh (DDG-132), according to the Bath Iron Works statement.
The ship is expected to commission next year.
