Gasps broke the silence as the small group touring the legendary Bath Iron Works shipbuilding facility entered the cavernous Ultra Hall. Above them, towering nearly four stories high, was the name of their son, brother, grandson, and friend. “Michael Murphy” was emblazoned on the massive, 800-ton hull of what would soon become a U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer.
The family knew, of course, that the name would be there. Aware of the project from its inception, they were present at the shipbuilding facility on June 18, 2010, for the keel-authentication ceremony for the ship named to forever memorialize the sacrifice of their son. The sheer astonishment and emotional impact of seeing his name across the hull of the ship, however, was something none of his family members had anticipated.
Michael’s parents, Dan and Maureen Murphy, and his brother John embraced. Maureen’s sister Eileen, Michael’s godmother, joined the embrace; their sobs broke the silence. Scott Kay, the guided-missile destroyer project manager for Bath Iron Works and the tour guide for the day, took that moment to compose himself as the family embraced. Although he had conducted many tours for the families of ships’ namesakes, the task never became any easier or less emotional for him.
Construction on the $170 million guided-missile destroyer Michael Murphy (DDG-112) began on September 7, 2007. During the dedication ceremony on May 7, 2008, Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter declared, “Michael Murphy’s name, which will be forever synonymous with astonishing courage under fire, will now be associated with one of the U.S. Navy’s most technologically advanced, most powerful, and most capable warships.”
The keel-authentication ceremony on June 18 was the first of what will be several emotional ceremonies in bringing the ship to life. During the ceremony the workers at Bath helped Dan and Maureen weld their initials in a steel plate that will become part of the ship. The initials of all nineteen of those killed in Operation Red Wings also will be welded into the keel plate as a lasting tribute to their service and sacrifice.
The anticipated christening is currently set for May 7, 2011, on what would have been Murphy’s thirty-fifth birthday. The commissioning is tentatively scheduled for June 28, 2012, in New York Harbor. The USS Michael Murphy will be the seventh destroyer and the fortieth Navy ship named to commemorate a Medal of Honor recipient. Although its fleet assignment has yet to be determined, the destroyer and its 23 officers and 250 enlisted personnel likely will be home ported in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, home of Murphy’s unit, SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team-1.