August 29, General Dynamics Bath Iron Works celebrated the keel laying of the future USS William Charette (DDG 130). The U.S. Navy named the ship in honor of the Navy master chief hospital corpsman, who received the Medal of Honor during the Korean War. Charette repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire while treating injured Marines during fighting to retake a strategic hill on March 27, 1953, even after he incurred a head injury that left him temporarily unable to see.
Rear Adm. Darin Via, U.S. Navy surgeon general and chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, spoke at the event on behalf of the Secretary of the Navy. The ship’s sponsors are Charette’s daughters Margaret Ann Charette Henderson, Kati Charette Donovan and Laura Charette Bennett. Brent Frye, a welder with 14 years of experience at BIW, completed the keel authentication by striking welding arcs onto a steel plate with the sponsors’ initials, a plate that will be incorporated into the ship. The laying of the keel and its authentication signifies the start of hull integration, the pre-cursor to launch and sea trials.
“The keel-laying ceremony celebrates an important milestone in the ship’s life,” said BIW President Charles F. Krugh. “Rather than a collection of units moving through our production buildings, William Charette is now being integrated into a ship on Land Level. Shipbuilders, including welders, shipfitters, electricians, pipefitters, machinists and preservation technicians, will now connect, install and protect ship services as we move toward launch.”
“All of us in Navy Medicine are immensely proud to have a warship named after one of our own,” said Rear Adm. Via. “We understand that it is one of the greatest honors you can receive in the Navy. The future USS William Charette will not only be a symbol of American strength but also a testament to the courage and dedication of Navy corpsmen. To have a ship named after a Navy corpsman is to hold to the maxim of ‘Corpsman Up!’ and embodies the ethos of courage, fidelity and service before self.”
In addition to William Charette, Bath Iron Works currently has under construction the Flight IIA Arleigh Burke-class destroyers Harvey C. Barnum Jr. (DDG 124) and Patrick Gallagher (DDG 127) as well as the Flight III destroyers Louis H. Wilson Jr. (DDG 126), Quentin Walsh (DDG 132), John E. Kilmer (DDG 134) and Richard G. Lugar (DDG 136).