The US Navy has christened its newest Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyer, the future USS Lyndon B Johnson (DDG 1002), during a ceremony at General Dynamics-Bath Iron Works shipyard in Bath, Maine.

DDG 1002 is named in honour of late US President Lyndon Johnson and is the third ship in the Zumwalt-class.

The vessel will be sponsored by Lynda Johnson Robb and Luci Johnson, the two daughters of the former president.

To mark the christening of the ship, the sponsors broke a bottle of sparkling wine across the bow.

US Navy Secretary Richard Spencer said: “The future USS Lyndon B Johnson will serve for decades as a reminder of President Johnson’s service to our nation and support of a strong navy and Marine Corps team.



“This ship honours not only President Johnson’s service, but also the service of our industry partners who are vital in making the navy the nation needs.”

“This ship honours not only President Johnson’s service, but also the service of our industry partners who are vital in making the navy the nation needs.”

The multi-mission Zumwalt-class destroyers are designed to conduct deterrence, power projection, sea control, and command and control missions.

Measuring 610ft in length, Zumwalt is 100ft longer and 13ft wider than the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.

The additional space can be used to execute a wide range of surface, undersea, and aviation missions.

The Zumwalt vessels have a beam of 80.7ft and a displacement of around 16,000t. The ships can travel at speeds of 30k.

In September 2011, General Dynamics Bath Iron Works received a $1.8bn fixed-price-incentive contract to build DDG 1001 and DDG 1002.

DDG 1000 Zumwalt is the first vessel that was delivered to the US Navy in May 2016.

The second vessel, USS Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001), was commissioned on 26 January.