The latest Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, Sampson (DDG 102), will be christened Sept. 16 during a ceremony at Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine. The ship is named in honor of Rear Adm. William Thomas Sampson (1840-1902), a naval hero in the Spanish-American War. After graduating first in his class at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1861, Sampson served in the Civil War, during which he survived a mine explosion in 1865. When the United States declared war against Spain following the sinking of the battleship Maine, Sampson assumed command of the U.S. North Atlantic Squadron with the rank of rear admiral. Sailing from Key West, Fla., in 1898, aboard USS New York (CA 2), his squadron established a blockade on the Spanish Fleet in the harbor of Santiago, Cuba.
