The future USS John Basilone transits the Kennebec River near Bath, Maine, heading out to sea to conduct trials in April 2024. The ship, named for Gunnery Sgt. John Basilone, who was awarded the Medal of Honor in World War II, was delivered to the Navy on July 8, 2024, by General Dynamics Bath Iron Works. (Sherwin Thomas/U.S. Navy)
A warship named in honor of a legendary Marine Corps Medal of Honor recipient was delivered to the Navy this week.
The USS John Basilone, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, has been transferred to a pre-commissioning unit in Bath, Maine, according to a Navy statement Monday.
The destroyer will be homeported in Mayport, Fla., the Navy said. No timeline has been released for when the trip there will begin.
“The future USS John Basilone will bring significant capability to the fleet and strengthen our advantage at sea,” Capt. Seth Miller, a class program manager for the ship, said in a Navy statement.
U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. John Basilone was awarded the Medal of Honor for extraordinary heroism and conspicuous gallantry during combat action on Guadalcanal in October 1942. Basilone, later a gunnery sergeant, was killed in action on Iwo Jima in February 1945, and was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross. The second Navy ship to bear his name, the destroyer USS John Basilone, was delivered to the Navy on July 8, 2024. (U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command)
The ship was christened by former Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus in 2016 at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Gunnery Sgt. John Basilone served during World War II and was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism at Guadalcanal in 1942 and later the Navy Cross for his actions at Iwo Jima.
After receiving the Medal of Honor, Basilone was sent back to America to sell war bonds and make public appearances, while his requests to return to the front were denied.
The Marine Corps eventually relented and sent him to Iwo Jima, where the Marines made landfall on Feb. 19, 1945.
Then-Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus , right, has a graphic of the USS John Basilone unveiled during the naming ceremony for the ship at Camp Pendleton, Calif., in 2016. Named for Gunnery Sgt. John Basilone, who was awarded the Medal of Honor in World War II, the ship was delivered to the Navy on July 8, 2024. (Tyler Dietrich/U.S. Marine Corps)
Basilone’s Navy Cross citation says he “boldly defied the smashing bombardment of heavy caliber fire to work his way around the flank and up to a position directly on top of the blockhouse and then, attacking with grenades and demolitions, single-handedly destroyed the entire hostile strong point and its defending garrison.”
While pushing forward to an airfield, Basilone was killed instantly by a bursting mortar shell, according to the citation.
The newly acquired destroyer is the second ship to bear Basilone’s name. The first was a Gearing-class destroyer commissioned in 1949 and struck from the Navy list in 1977.
A pre-commissioning unit was stood up in Bath for the newly built USS Basilone in May 2022.
USS John Basilone is a Flight IIA destroyer that can combat threats underwater, on the surface and in the air. It’s outfitted with a pair of Sikorsky Seahawk helicopters, a variety of machine guns and rockets, the Phalanx Close-In Weapon System and torpedoes.
The ship is tentatively set to commission later this year.
