USS Patrick Gallagher departs Bath for sea trials, ending destroyer line

USS Patrick Gallagher’s departure from Bath Iron Works on the Kennebec River on April 27 put one of Sagadahoc County’s biggest industrial milestones on the water, and it also marked the end of an era for the Bath destroyer line. The Arleigh Burke-class DDG 127 is the last Flight IIA destroyer built for the U.S. Navy, so its sea trials are not just another ship movement. They are the proving ground that will help show whether Bath can hand over the ship on schedule and keep its reputation for building some of the fleet’s most capable warships.

Sea trials are the Navy’s pre-delivery test phase, when crews verify propulsion, maneuverability, endurance, navigation, combat systems and seaworthiness before acceptance. For Bath, that means the destroyer must perform cleanly at sea after years of construction and finishing work. A contemporaneous local report said the ship later stopped in Portland while conducting the trials, underscoring that the testing phase can involve multiple stages and adjustments before the ship returns to complete final work.

The vessel itself is a major piece of industrial output from the yard. Bath Iron Works lists DDG 127 at 509 feet, 6 inches long, with a draft of 21 feet, 6 3/4 inches. The company says it launched on October 16, 2024. The Navy’s ship-history page says funding was awarded for fiscal year 2018, construction began on November 9, 2018 and the keel was laid on March 30, 2022.

The destroyer carries the name of Cpl. Patrick “Bob” Gallagher, born February 1, 1944, in County Mayo, Ireland. The Navy says Gallagher was a Vietnam War Marine who saved fellow Marines from grenades in 1966. Bath Iron Works christened the future USS Patrick Gallagher on July 27, 2024, in front of more than 2,000 shipbuilders, family members and invited guests, with Gallagher’s sisters, Teresa Gallagher Keegan, Rosemarie Gallagher and Pauline Gallagher, serving as sponsors. The ship’s motto is “Be Brave and Be Bold.”

For Bath, the bigger question is what comes next. Successful trials would clear a key hurdle toward delivery, strengthen BIW’s standing with the Navy and reinforce the yard’s argument that destroyer work still anchors local jobs and national defense. Maine’s senators, Susan Collins and Angus King, have recently pressed for more Pentagon funding for destroyers built in Bath, a reminder that the fate of DDG 127 reaches far beyond the riverbank where it first slipped away for sea.