Two under-construction destroyers named for military heroes with area ties will be stationed in San Diego once they’re commissioned, the Navy announced Wednesday.
The USS Rafael Peralta is scheduled to arrive at Naval Base San Diego in the fall, while the USS John Finn will come early next year.
Stationing destroyers on the West Coast supports the Navy’s pivot to Asia. By 2020, approximately 60 percent of Navy ships and aircraft will be based in the region.
Peralta, a Marine sergeant who grew up in San Diego, died at age 25 when he smothered a grenade in Fallujah, Iraq, on Nov. 15, 2004. He was awarded the Navy Cross, prompting unsuccessful efforts by his family, Rep. Duncan D. Hunter, R-El Cajon, and other lawmakers to secure the Medal of Honor instead.
Finn, a longtime San Diego County resident, manned a machine gun at Kaneohe Naval Air Station during the attack on Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941. The then- 32-year-old chief petty officer fired at Japanese aircraft for more than two hours even though he was shot in the arm and foot and suffered numerous shrapnel wounds.
For his actions, Finn was awarded the first Medal of Honor to be given during World War II, receiving the medal in 1942. He died in 2010 at age 100.
Rafael Peralta is being built by Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, and John Finn is being built by Huntington Ingalls Industries in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Both ships are Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, which are 509 feet long and carry a crew of 276.
The Navy announced the vessels’ names at a ceremony at Naval Base San Diego in 2013.
–City News Service
