USS Carl M. Levin, named for late Michigan senator, joins US Navy's destroyer force

Todd Spangler, Detroit Free Press
·4 min read
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Michigan’s longest-serving U.S. senator has finally joined the armed forces.

On Saturday, the Navy commissioned — or formally accepted for active duty — the USS Carl M. Levin, a guided-missile destroyer named for the late senator, who, although he never served in the military, was a longtime chairman and key member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Levin, who died in 2021, represented Michigan in the Senate for 36 years before retiring in 2015. His daughters — Kate Levin Markel, Erica Levin and Laura Levin, named as the ship’s sponsors by the Navy — were tasked with giving the order to “man our ship and bring her to life,” at the ceremony in Baltimore.

And with that, the Carl Levin, otherwise known as DDG (for destroyer designated guided) 120, was ready to take its place among the Navy’s contingent of active warships.

More: How does the Navy name its ships?

Although Levin wasn’t there to see it himself, he knew a ship was being named for him: In 2016, then-Navy Secretary Ray Mabus came to Detroit to formally announce that he was giving the new destroyer Levin’s moniker in his honor. "I did not expect it. I didn't seek it. But to be connected with the Navy … is such an honor for me,” Levin said at the time.

It's taken almost a decade to get here

It’s taken nearly a decade for the Levin to get to this point: The contract for the destroyer — of a class of destroyers named for World War II Admiral Arleigh Burke — was awarded even before Levin left office, in 2014. Built at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works in Maine, the keel was laid in 2019 and the ship was christened (that’s when the sponsors smash champagne against the hull) in October 2021.

Since then, it has been going through the long process of testing its hull and mechanical and electrical systems, before finally being delivered to the Navy in January of this year.

Everything to know about the USS Levin

  • The USS Carl M. Levin (the M stands for Milton) is 511 feet long, 66 feet wide at its beam (that’s the widest point on the waterline) and displaces 9,200 long tons (that’s 2,240 pounds each) of water.

  • The Levin is what's known as a Flight IIA Arleigh Burke class destroyer, meaning it's a little longer and has some other modifications from earlier flights. The first Flight III destroyer, with further upgrades, finished its acceptance trials this spring.

  • Prior to its commissioning, it has been at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii. It's headed back there afterward.

  • The ship's mast box includes some mementos from Levin's life, including a bottle of sand from Sleeping Bear Dunes (which he helped save from development), a Petoskey stone and handwritten notes from his grandchildren.

  • The Navy didn't reveal how much it cost but congressional reports indicate recent destroyers of this type were expected to cost between $1.6 billion-$2.1 billion.

  • Its top speed is in excess of 30 knots, propelled by four General Electric LM 2500-30 gas turbines and two shafts.

  • The ship’s armament includes medium- to long-range surface-to-air missiles, vertical launch anti-submarine missiles, a Tomahawk cruise missile, six MK-46 torpedoes (from two triple tube mounts), a 5-inch MK 45 gun and a surface-to-air SeaSparrow interceptor missile.

  • There are two helicopters on board.

  • The Levin will be operated by 329 crewmembers (seven of whom are from Michigan), including 32 officers, 27 chief petty officers and 270 enlisted personnel.

  • The commanding officer is Cmdr. Kelly Craft, a surface warfare officer from Keystone Heights, Florida, and the executive office is Cmdr. Jason Holbrook, a native of Garden Grove, California.

  • The ship’s motto is “Tenacious In the Fight,” which Jim Townsend, director of the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy at Wayne State University Law School, named for the senator, said is apt.

“Sen. Levin was tenacious in advocating for an effective military and the support of military service members and their families,” he said. “He was able to do this so successfully by working across the aisle, leading with facts, and treating everyone with respect. How he would have loved to be present at the commissioning of the ship that bears his name.”

Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: USS Carl M. Levin commissioned, going on active duty in US Navy