The Navy has commissioned its 71st Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in Charleston, S.C., on last Saturday.
The USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG-121), is named in honor of Lt. Gen. Frank Petersen, the first Black Marine aviator and three-star general and will be based at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. 
The nearly 9,500-ton ship was commissioned in front of an audience that included both Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday.
“It’s fitting that a name synonymous with service and sacrifice be emblazoned on the steel of this American warship,” Gilday said at the ceremony. “Sailors aboard this mighty warship will deploy wherever, whenever needed, with General Petersen’s fighting spirit and tenacity, for generations to come.”
Frank E. Petersen Jr. left Ingalls Shipbuilding in April to head to Charleston for the commissioning. It is the 33rd destroyer Ingalls built for the Navy. The shipbuilder is currently contracted to build five more as well, according to an HII news release.
