Huntington Ingalls Industries' (HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding division officially started fabrication of the future US Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Ted Stevens with the cutting of the first 100 tonnes of steel on Monday, April 6.
The ship's name honours former US Senator Ted Stevens, who served as a US Army Air Forces pilot in World War II and later as a senator representing Alaska. At the time he left office in 2009, he was the longest-serving Republican US Senator in history.
The future Ted Stevens will have a length of 155 metres, a draught of 10 metres, and armament including Tomahawk cruise missiles, Standard surface-to-air missiles, and torpedoes.