The future USS Richard G. Lugar will be a Bath Iron Works-built Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, similar to the USS Thomas Hudner shown here. (Photo courtesy of Bath Iron Works)

BATH — On Wednesday, Indiana Republican Sen. Todd Young announced a future Bath Iron Works-built destroyer, DDG 136, will take the name of former Indianapolis mayor and six-term Senator Richard G. Lugar.

Lugar, who died in April, served as an officer for the Navy from 1957 to 1960, two decades before he served as U.S. senator for 36 years. He acted as an intelligence briefer to then-Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Arleigh Burke, for whom the warship class is named.

Lugar acted as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, overlapping with Sen. Susan Collins’ time on the committee.

“Senator Richard Lugar was a true statesman and patriot, a leader who served with such integrity and intelligence,” said Collins. “He was one of the finest senators with whom I had the privilege of serving. The officers and crew of the future USS Richard Lugar will serve on a ship named for a leader who represented our country’s highest ideals.”

During his time as chairman, Lugar spearheaded the Nunn-Lugar program, a bipartisan effort to dismantle more than 7,600 nuclear warheads, millions of chemical munitions and thousands of missiles.

“At a time when nuclear proliferation was civilization’s greatest threat, Senator Lugar helped save the world,” Young said in a statement. “It is fitting that the Navy honor Senator Lugar’s legacy by naming one of their warships after this dedicated statesman, and I look forward to joining … the Lugar family for this momentous occasion.”

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“As a U.S. Senator, Lugar was instrumental in reducing the threat of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons,” BIW wrote in a Facebook post.

While the expected delivery date of the vessel is unknown, it’s one of the 11 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers under contract for delivery in the coming decade.

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer was, at one time, sidelined in favor of the more advanced — and expensive — Zumwalt-class stealth destroyers.

In the early 2000s, the Navy hoped to build 32 Zumwalt-class destroyers at Bath Iron Works. As the years wore on, the number of ships ordered was slashed as cost-overruns mounted. Ultimately, the Navy ordered just three Zumwalts, and the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, which have been in service since the 1990s, were resurrected with design upgrades.

Considered the workhorse of the Navy, the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are 509 feet long and weigh in at roughly 9,300 tons. Zumwalts cost $4.6 billion each compared to about $1.8 billion for an Arleigh Burke.

According to the U.S. Navy, the future USS Richard G. Lugar will be capable of fighting air, surface and subsurface battles simultaneously and will contain a combination of offensive and defensive weapon systems.

Young will host a naming ceremony for the future USS Richard G. Lugar in Indianapolis on Monday, Nov. 18, where he will be joined by U.S. Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer and members of the Lugar family.


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