BATH

The ongoing government shutdown will delay a ceremony for — but not the launching of — a new class of U.S. Navy destroyer from Bath Iron Works Oct. 19.

U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, issued a news release saying the Navy today informed her that the christening ceremony scheduled for Oct. 19 will be put off. She issued a statement later clarifying that the launch would take place as scheduled, but an official christening ceremony would wait.

“The launch of the Zumwalt is a big deal, but the government shutdown just made it impossible for the Navy to pull off the christening ceremony,” Pingree said in a statement. “Obviously it will be rescheduled, but it is a bit of a disappointment for the men and women at BIW who have worked so long and so hard to get the Zumwalt ready for launch.”

The USS Zumwalt is the first of the Navy’s new DDG-1000 destroyers, and has been under construction at the Bath shipyard since 2009.

Pingree said the shutdown has already led to layoffs, a decline in tourism and cutbacks in small business lending, among other things. More than 170 staff at Bath’s Supship office — which manages quality control for defense projects — were furloughed last week, The Times Record reported at the time.

The Times Record Sustaining Sponsor
We believe a community must be informed to thrive. bowdoin.edu