73rd Burke accepted
Bath has delivered the future USS Harvey C. Barnum Jr. (DDG-124) to the Navy for a planned 2026 commissioning.
She is the 73rd of her class, the next to last Flight IIA Burke, and one of nine so-called “Technology Insertion” vessels, which have some of the Flight III sensors and mods, such as the new AN/SPQ-9B search and fire control radar instead of the older AN/SPS-67, which was first fielded in 1983.
She also notably is still carrying a CIWS aft rather than a 21-cell RAM launcher, and her forward of the bridge CIWS spot is empty, which means she may be picking up a laser there, be it ODIN, which is on four ships already, or the HELIOS system.
The ship is the first named after retired Marine Col. Harvey Curtiss “Barney” Barnum Jr, a Medal of Honor recipient recognized for his extraordinary heroism and valor during the Vietnam War.
Bath has seven future Burkes under construction: Patrick Gallagher (DDG 127)— the last Flight IIA– and six Flight IIIs: Louis H. Wilson Jr. (DDG 126), William Charette (DDG 130), Quentin Walsh (DDG 132), John E. Kilmer (DDG 134), Richard G. Lugar (DDG 136), and J. William Middendorf (DDG 138).