BATH
The ongoing government shutdown will delay Saturday’s ceremony — but not the launching — for a new class of U.S. Navy destroyer from Bath Iron Works.
U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, issued a news release saying the U.S. Navy informed her Friday that the ceremony scheduled for Oct. 19 would be put off. She issued a statement later clarifying that the launch would take place as scheduled, but the official christening ceremony would wait.
“The launch of the Zumwalt is a big deal, but the government shutdown just made it impossible for the Navy to pull off the christening ceremony,” Pingree said in a statement. “Obviously it will be rescheduled, but it is a bit of a disappointment for the men and women at BIW who have worked so long and so hard to get the Zumwalt ready for launch.”
The USS Zumwalt is the first of the Navy’s new DDG-1000 destroyers, and has been under construction at the Bath shipyard since 2009.
“It is incredibly unfortunate that we are being forced to cancel the christening ceremony for this great warship,” said Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, “but the ongoing government shutdown prevents us from being able to honor Admiral Zumwalt’s memory with a ceremony befitting his and his family’s legacy of service to our nation and our Navy.”
The USS Zumwalt is a first of class ship for the Navy’s next generation destroyer. Zumwalt class ships are tailored for sustained operations in the littorals and land attack, and will provide independent forward presence and deterrence, support special operations forces, and operate as an integral part of joint and combined expeditionary forces, the Navy said.
The Zumwalt honors Navy Adm. Elmo R. “Bud” Zumwalt Jr., who became the 19th Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) in 1970, and passed away in Durham, N.C., on Jan. 2, 2000.
The Navy is in coordination with the Zumwalt family and General Dynamics Bath Iron Works to reschedule the christening ceremony.
Additional information about the Zumwalt-class destroyer is available online at www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4200&tid=900&ct=4.
Pingree said the shutdown has already led to layoffs, a decline in tourism and cutbacks in small business lending, among other things.
More than 170 staff at Bath’s Supship office — which manages quality control for defense projects at the Bath shipyard — were furloughed last week.
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less