On Tuesday, the U.S. Navy commander will accept delivery of a guided missile destroyer named after Lieutenant General Frank E. Petersen, a native topeka.
Simply put, you’ll see an informal ceremony I live on a Facebook page Future USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. Commander Daniel Hancock will accept ship deliveries from the Ingalls Shipbuilding of Huntington Ingalls Industries on behalf of the US Government at 10 am.
The ship was known as the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer DDG121 when construction began in 2016 at the Pascagoula shipyard in Miss.
That year, the Navy announced that it would name the ship in honor of Petersen, the first black aviator, the first black general, and the three-star general who became the first black base commander in the Marine Corps. bottom.
The keel of the ship was laid in 2017. It was launched in 2018 and was baptized later that year.The ship has passed safely recently Sea trial..
Petersen is believed to be from the first Topeka, the origin of the name of the US Navy ship.
He graduated from Topeka High School in 1949, spent two semesters at Washburn University, joined the Navy in 1950, accepted the Commission as a lieutenant in 1952, and became a Marine Corps pilot.
Petersen flew more than 350 combat missions and more than 4,000 military aircraft times between the Korean War and the Vietnam War. He was the first black man in the Marine Corps to command fighter squadrons, aviation groups, and major bases.
Petersen received his Master’s degree from the National University of War in Washington, DC in 1973. He was promoted to Brigadier General in 1979, Major General in 1983, and Lieutenant in 1986. In 1988, he retired as an active senior aviator in the US military. ..
In 2010, President Barack Obama appointed Petersen to the US Navy School’s Visitors Committee to monitor morale, guidance, and other matters.
Petersen died in 2015 at his home in Maryland at the age of 83.
This article was originally published in Topeka Capital-Journal: Named after Petersen from Topeka, delivered for Navy missions