Keel laid for warship honoring World War II Marine hero

| January 13, 2020


Gunnery Sgt. (then-Sgt.) John Basilone, of Raritan, N.J. was awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism in the face of a savage Japanese frontal attack one night on Guadalcanal while manning a key machine gun. Awarded in field by dispatch 12 April 1943. A Maine shipyard announced it has celebrated the keel laying of a future Navy guided-missile destroyer that honors his legacy. (National Archives)

BATH, Maine — A Maine shipyard announced it celebrated the keel laying of a future Navy guided-missile destroyer on Friday.

General Dynamics Bath Iron Works reached the milestone in the construction of the future John Basilone.

A keel laying ceremony is one of the major events in the life of a ship.

The ship’s sponsors and a BIW welder authenticated the keel by striking welding arcs onto the steel plate, the shipyard said.

The keel laying is a precursor to the final construction of the ship, testing and sea trials, the shipyard said.

The ship is named for Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. John Basilone, who earned the Medal of Honor for bravery at the Battle of Guadalcanal and the Navy Cross at Iwo Jima, where he was killed.

He was the only enlisted Marine in World War II who received both decorations, the shipyard said.

Gunnery Sgt. Basilone has been featured on one of our Valor Fridays. It’s great to have adults in charge.
Hand salute. Ready, Two!

The entire article may be viewed here: Navy Times

Category: Marine Corps, Navy, Valor

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Cameron Kingsley

Just like Arizona and Oklahoma, there hasn’t been a ship named after John Basilone in awhile (granted, no where near as long as the other two since it was decommissioned in 1977). Good on the Navy for resurrecting the name.

A Proud Infidel®™

Warships being named after valorous War Heroes, now maybe they can rename a few that were named after politicians?

OWB

Got my vote.

11B-Mailclerk

Spirit of Arizona

Arizona II

You get the idea.

The Other Whitey

I still say that any SINKEX target should be automatically renamed USS Ray Mabus.

A Proud Infidel®™

Except for when SINKEX Target SHips happen to be say, the USS Harvey Milk, Gabby Giffords or Cezar Chavez…

5th/77th FA

I would say ‘Ed that you have got to be shitting me, but I know that you wouldn’t shit me, I’m one of your favorite turds. I must admit, I have not kept up with the names of too many of our surface fleet over the last few years. How many other ships do we have that are like these named above that have been named for someone with very little if not NO real connection to Naval/Marine Operations? Guess I could Google Foo Active Navy Ship Names? ?!?daHell!?

BZ to whomever made a good choice in naming this newest Floating Artillery Platform for the Marine Hero Gunnery Sgt John Basilone!

Gun Salute…Fire by the piece from right to left…PREPARE…COMMENCE FIRING!

5th/77th FA

^word^ And now we know. Hadn’t heard that sea story, we’ll put that button in the “Do not push mode.” Glad I found out this way, instead of how the other dumbass did. No foul intended.

So who makes the decision on naming Ships of the Line, and what would be the criteria? I was vaguely aware of the Milk, mainly from a comment made on TAH, same as the Giffords. I just gave it a passing note, hey they were gubmint lackeys & 1 was dead. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel that any of our ships should have a name of someone that has made a contribution to Naval Warfare, not a political statement. Out of the what, 300 some odd we have now, how many am I gonna find that have what I may consider an inappropriate name? If I Google Foo, current Navy Ship’s names is NSA gonna come knocking?

5th/77th FA

Tanks Matey. Now Imma gonna haveta research ship names and see how disgusted I can get. I can see it now. “Mr. Navy Secretary Sen Suckup and Rep Ripoff is coming by to discuss naming the new ship. You need to have the account # of your favorite charity handy.”

NHSparky

Throw Jimmy Carter onto that pile.

Firebase

Since Basilone was a Marine, I would think an amphibious assault ship would have been more appropriate than a guided-missile destroyer to honor his memory and his heroism.

The Other Whitey

There’s been no shortage of destroyers named for Marines. For example, USS O’Bannon (three destroyers; Wickes-class DD-177, Fletcher-class DD-450, and Spruance-class DD-987) was named for 1LT Presley O’Bannon USMC, of Fauquier County, Virginia. O’Bannon stormed Derna Fortress with 60 men (himself, seven Marines, two Sailors, and 50 Greek mercenaries), routing the 4,000 Tripolitanian defenders.

Jeff LPH 3, 63-66

USS Okinawa LPH 3, was de commisioned in 1992 and in 2002 was sent to the bottom of the Pacific ocean in a sinkex. Pic shows the Mark 4 torpedo wake hitting the side of the Lady of the seas. No gator ships named after her. I wonder if the name was not to be used anymore since she was named after the battle of Okinawa which took a large toll of ships and men. It’s maybe like when a devistating hurricane comes ashore, the name isn’t used anymore on future hurricanes. Any feed back on why we don’t see any Okinawa named Gators. She was an Iwo Jima class LPH which was made 100 feet shorter and one screw instead of two due to the McNamara budget cuts during that time period.

Firebase

Thanks for setting me straight on the accepted protocol. Still, if a vessel will primarily be used to transport Marines, it makes sense to me that it should be named after a Marine hero.

George

When enlisted heroes win these awards, you can bet your ass they earned them.

Not so when the officer corps hands them out like candy to their pals.

M48DAT

USS Purple Crayon said the Army guy.

Old NFO

AW1 Ed is correct. Protocol trumps all… And yes, those ‘other’ ship names will be suitably modified by the crews… Like ” The Peanut” for a certain boat…

Cameron Kingsley

What boat would that be? I’m curious.

Cameron Kingsley

Ah. That makes sense. I take it peanut means weakling?

Hondo

No. Prior to entering politics, Carter was literally a peanut farmer. Published accounts give his reason for resigning his Navy commission as being to take over the family farm (a fairly large one) after his dad died in 1953.

Cameron Kingsley

Didn’t know that. To be honest, he probably should have stuck to that.

A Proud Infidel®™

Another little Known US Navy Ship is the USS Walter Mondale which shadows the USS Jimmy Carter and always goes belly up anytime the USS Ronald Reagan is nearby!!

Slick Goodlin

As an Army Guy, that makes me wonder what they call the USNS Harvey Milk and USNS Cesar Chavez?

Mason

https://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=82527

For those interested in our previous talks on Gunny Basilone. Medal of Honor for Guadalcanal and a posthumous Navy Cross for Iwo Jima after fighting the brass to get back to a front line unit. One of America’s best and not to be forgotten.

M48DAT

I love the way Sedo portrayed him in the HBO series The Pacific. In my 24 year career in the Army, I did a few joint missions in leadership roles with Marines. They are the most hard charging warriors that ever walked the face of this planet. Semper Fi my brothers.