Navy commissions new guided-missile destroyer named after Charleston hero

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  • By Compiled from Navy News Release
  • 315th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
CHARLESTON. S.C. --  The Navy commissioned its newest guided-missile destroyer, the USS Ralph Johnson (DDG 114), during a ceremony Saturday, March 24, at Columbus Street Pier in Charleston, South Carolina.

The USS Ralph Johnson honors Marine Corps Pfc. Ralph Henry Johnson, who posthumously received the Medal of Honor for his “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity” during the Vietnam War. On March 5, 1968, in an observation post overlooking the Quan Duc Valley, Johnson used his body to shield fellow Marines from a grenade, absorbing the blast and dying instantly. The Charleston native had only been in Vietnam for two months when he was killed at the age of 19.

Gen. Robert Neller, commandant of the Marine Corps, delivered the ceremony's principal address. Mrs. Georgeann McRaven, wife of retired Adm. Bill McRaven, serves as the ship’s sponsor. In a time-honored Navy tradition, she will give the order to “man our ship and bring her to life!”

Johnson’s sister Helen Richards sat next to the ceremony’s dignitaries to represent the Johnson family.

“The USS Ralph Johnson [is] one of the most capable weapons in our nation’s arsenal,” said Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer. “It will serve for decades to come as a fitting tribute to the heroic actions of Pfc. Ralph Johnson who, in the face of certain death, sacrificed his own life to save the life of a fellow Marine.”

Ralph Johnson, the 65th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer to be commissioned, will be able to conduct a variety of operations, from peacetime presence and crisis management to sea control and power projection. Ralph Johnson will be capable of engaging in air, surface and subsurface battles simultaneously and will contain a myriad of offensive and defensive weapons designed to support maritime warfare, including integrated air and missile defense capabilities.

Additional information about Ralph Johnson can be found online at https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/r/ralph-johnson--ddg-114-.html

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