BATH

Bath Iron Works will christen the Thomas Hudner

(DDG 116) at a ceremony on Saturday at the shipyard.

The vessel is named after Capt. Thomas Hudner, USN, who served as a Navy pilot during the Korean War. When fellow pilot Ensign Jesse Brown was shot down during the Chosin Reservoir campaign in 1950, Hudner intentionally crashed his aircraft to rescue him. While Hudner was unsuccessful in his efforts and Brown succumbed to his injuries, President Harry Truman awarded Hudner the Medal of Honor for his bravery. Hudner retired from the Navy in 1973.

The christening ceremony will feature remarks from BIW President Dirk Lesko, Director of Navy Staff Vice Adm. James G. Foggo III and members of Maine’s congressional delegation.

The principal speaker at the event will be Allison Stiller, principal civilian deputy performing the duties of Assistant Secretary of the Navy.

The christening itself will be performed by the ship’s sponsors, Georgea F. Hudner and Barbara Joan Miller, with the breaking of a bottle of champagne on the ship’s bow.

Georgea is the wife of the ship’s namesake, Thomas Hudner. She met him while he was serving as the navigator of USS Kitty Hawk in 1966 and the couple were married in 1969.

Miller, also a Navy spouse, has a long history of working with Navy organizations. She has actively served in a number of groups supporting Navy spouses. Miller has chaired the new Commanding Officer/ Executive Officer, Chief of the Boat, and Command Master Chief training program, and co-chaired the new Flag Officer Spouse Training and is currently a member of the Philanthropic Educational Organization.

Kelly Fernandez, Shannon Gustafson and Karen Heidner Ward are the Thomas Hudner’s matrons of honor.

The Thomas Hudner is the 36th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer to be built at BIW, and the second following the USS Rafael Peralta since the program was restarted. The ship’s keel was laid in November 2015. The more than 500-foot-long vessel has a displacement of 9,200 tons.

Later in April, the Thomas Hudner will be transferred from the Land Level Transfer Facility where it will be christened to the dry dock. The dry dock will move to the middle of the Kennebec River, where it will be ballasted. With the help of tugboats, the ship will be brought back alongside the shipyard for continued work.

Starting at 9 a.m. Saturday, a number of groups will be protesting BIW and calling for the shipyard to convert to building mass transportation infrastructure and renewable energy technology.

The ceremony will begin at 11:30 a.m., with the Pedestrian Gate at the southern end of the shipyard opening to the public at 10:30 a.m.

Parking around BIW is limited, but a park-and-ride bus system will transport visitors from both the BIW Surface Ship Support Center at 290 Bath Road in Brunswick and by the Taste of Maine Restaurant in Woolwich. The buses will be operating from 9:30-11 a.m. and after the ceremony from 12:45-2 p.m.

nstrout@timesrecord.com

• THE THOMAS HUDNER is the 36th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer to be built at BIW, and the second following the USS Rafael Peralta since the program was restarted. The ship’s keel was laid in November 2015. The more than 500-foot-long vessel has a displacement of 9,200 tons.