A Maine shipyard announced it celebrated the keel laying of a future Navy guided-missile destroyer on Friday. General Dynamics Bath Iron Works reached the milestone in the construction of the future John Basilone. A keel laying ceremony is one of the major events in the life of a ship.

The ship's sponsors and a BIW welder authenticated the keel by striking welding arcs onto the steel plate, the shipyard said. The keel laying is a precursor to the final construction of the ship, testing and sea trials, the shipyard said.