Future destroyer Thomas Hudner leaves Bath Iron Works for open ocean

BATH, Maine — A Navy warship named for a naval aviator who crash-landed his plane to try to save a downed pilot has departed from shipbuilder Bath Iron Works.

The future destroyer Thomas Hudner headed down the Kennebec River to open ocean on Wednesday.

RELATED

Former Navy pilot, Medal of Honor recipient Thomas Hudner Jr. dies at 93

A former U.S. Navy captain and pilot who received the Medal of Honor for his heroics during the Korean War has died. Thomas Hudner Jr. was 93.

Hudner, a Korean War veteran who was awarded the Medal of Honor, witnessed the christening of the ship in April 2017 and died months later in his native Massachusetts.

The Navy took delivery of the ship in June, and it will be commissioned into the fleet on Dec. 1 in Boston.

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer’s homeport is going to be Mayport, Florida.

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