New missile destroyer joins squadron at Naval Station Mayport

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The soon-to-be USS Delbert D. Black arrived at N.S. Mayport Tuesday morning to join Naval Surface Squadron 14.

Commanding Officer Matthew McKenna said that over 300 sailors arrived with the ship and will be calling Mayport their new home.

The squadron has five other destroyer ships and the purpose of the squadron is to provide support to all non-LCS ships at Mayport. The squadron’s history can be traced back to November 1920, when it began as a reserve organization in Philadelphia.

“Destroyers are the workhorses of the fleet right now," McKennsa said. "They’re multi-mission platforms able to conduct operations against things in the air, surface and underneath the sea.”

The ship will be commissioned later in September and will be named after the first ever Master Petty Chief Officer of the U.S. Navy.

Delbert D. Black served from 1941 to 1971 and was the first Navy enlisted man to receive the Distinguished Service Medal. He served on the USS Maryland during Pearl Harbor. In 1967, the Secretary of the Navy announced Black to be the First Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy. As such, he was the highest ranking enlisted man in the U.S. Navy.

The destroyer will be commissioned in Port Canaveral, Florida on Sept. 26.

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