Bath Iron Works celebrated the start of work of a new warship, the future USS John E. Kilmer, Wednesday at the shipyard’s Structural Fabrication Facility in East Brunswick.

Les Waltz, who has been with BIW for 59 years, was selected to activate the burning machine to cut the first steel for the ship. 

The ship is named for John E. Kilmer, a Navy hospitalman who earned the Medal of Honor during the Korean War for his actions treating wounded Marines at the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1952.

Chinese forces that had crossed into the Korean peninsula had been shelling the hilltop on Aug. 13. Although he was injured, Kilmer continued to tend to the wounded, and used his own body to shield a Marine until he himself was mortally wounded.

The vessel bearing his name will be the 45th of its class built in Bath and fourth Flight III Arleigh Burke destroyer to start construction at Bath Iron Works, according to a news release from BIW.

“The future USS John E. Kilmer will be an important platform for the Navy to provide for the security of our country and our families,” BIW President Charles Krugh said in the release. “By safely executing high quality work we will deliver a ship that meets our reputation - Bath Built is Best Built.”