7/17/09 - USS Freedom (LCS 1) Completes Structural Test Firing
USS Freedom (LCS 1) completed Structural Test Firing (STF) exercises off the coast of Virginia on June 25.

7/17/09 - Naming of Joint High Speed Vehicles JHSV 1 Fortitude, JHSV 2 Vigilant, and JHSV 3 Spearhead
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and Secretary of the Army Pete Geren announced the names of the first three Joint High Speed Vessels. Designated as JHSV, the first three ships will be named Fortitude, Vigilant and Spearhead, respectively. Both Fortitude (JHSV 1) and Spearhead (JHSV 3) are being procured by the Army. The Navy is procuring Vigilant (JHSV 2).

7/13/09 - Keel Laid for USS Fort Worth
Lockheed Martin laid the keel for the future USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) during a July 11 ceremony at its Marinette Marine shipyard in Marinette, Wis. The keel was authenticated by the honorable Kay Granger (R-TX), who confirmed that the keel was laid “straight and true.”

7/13/09 - Navy Accepts Delivery of Future USS Wayne E. Meyer
The Navy officially accepted delivery of the guided-missile destroyer Wayne E. Meyer (DDG 108) from General Dynamics-Bath Iron Works (BIW) during a ceremony in Bath, Maine. Wayne E. Meyer is the 56th of the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and carries the 100th Aegis Combat System.

7/13/09 - USS Makin Island Sails Away
PCU Makin Island (LHD 8) “sailed away” from Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding (NGSB) Ingalls Operations July 10 on its maiden voyage, manned for the first time by the ship’s crew. This milestone marks the government and industry team’s production completion of LHD 8, the eighth Wasp-class amphibious assault ship delivered by Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding’s Ingalls Operations.

7/10/09 - USS Cole (DDG 67) Sports New Fuel-Saving Hull Coating
WASHINGTON - New underwater hull coatings applied to the guided missile destroyer USS Cole (DDG 67) are projected to save more than $180,000 in fuel costs per year, Navy engineers announced July 7.

7/10/09 - NSWC Port Hueneme Leads First USS Stockdale CSSQT
PORT HUENEME, Calif. - Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Port Hueneme engineers successfully led the Combat Systems Ship Qualifications Trials (CSSQT) aboard USS Stockdale (DDG 106)

7/03/09 - USS New York (LPD 21) Sets Sail for the First Time
WASHINGTON -- The future USS New York (LPD 21) was put to sea for the first time June 27, transiting down the Mississippi River to conduct Builder’s Trials.

7/02/09 - LCS 2 Underway for Builder's Trials
The Navy's first trimaran Littoral Combat Ship, the future USS Independence (LCS 2), began Builder's Sea Trials in the Gulf of Mexico July 2, 2009. LCS is a fast, agile, focused-mission ship designed to defeat asymmetric "anti-access" threats such as mines, quiet diesel submarines and fast surface craft.