On Dec. 7, 2015, the first of the Zumwalt-class destroyers left BIW for its initial sea trials, a memorable trip that made international headlines when five days in, the BIW crew pulled off a life-saving, nighttime rescue. A 3 a.m. distress call from the fishing boat Danny Boy, 40 miles southeast of Portland, alerted the Coast Guard that the boat’s captain was experiencing chest pains. BIW’s operating crew heard the call and quickly covered the 60 miles to the area. When a rescue helicopter could not safely hoist the man off the fishing boat, Zumwalt launched one of its rigid hull inflatable boats to retrieve him. The boat returned to Zumwalt and the man was lifted safely off the ship’s flight deck into the helicopter and flown to the hospital.
