Post by ferryfast admin on Oct 5, 2011 11:25:49 GMT -5
Secretary of the Navy coming to town to celebrate naming of USS Montgomery
Updated: Tuesday, October 04, 2011, 6:30 PM
By Natalie Wade, al.com al.com
blog.al.com/montgomery/2011/10/uss_montgomery_to_be_named_aft.html
The USS Independence sails out of Mobile for last timeThe Austal-built littoral combat ship USS Independence is the same style ship the USS Montgomery will be. (Press-Register, G.M. Andrews)
MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- The Secretary of the Navy will be in town Thursday to talk about plans to name one of the military's new littoral combat ships after the Capital City.
Montgomery will lend its name to a $439 million ship that will be built by Austal's shipyard in Mobile.
The ship is designed to operate in near-shore environments and is also capable of open-ocean operation. There are two variants of the LCS, and the USS Montgomery will be the Independence variant – the type built by the shipyard in Mobile.
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange will speak at a gathering at 3 p.m. at the Riverfront Amphitheater to celebrate the naming.
Capt. Pamela Kunze, public affairs officer for the office of the Secretary of the Navy, said the ships are named by Mabus and are most often named after mid-sized cities.
This isn't the first time a ship has been named after Alabama's capital. Only one of several ships named the USS Montgomery was commissioned, the DD 121. It was a destroyer commissioned in 1918 and later converted into a minelayer. It served in World War II and was sold for scrap in 1946.
"If you know a little bit about Navy ship namings, it's not uncommon to have previous hull forms named and later on have that particular name honored by being used again," Kunze said.
According to a report by the Press-Register, Austal USA, a Mobile shipyard, was awarded a $3.8 billion contract in December 2010 to build 10 warships for the U.S. Navy by 2018. The company expanded its operations and added about 2,000 jobs to tackle the projects.
A ship completed by Austal earlier this year, the USS Independence, sparked controversy when it was reported to have suffered "significant corrosion."
Navy spokespersons later said the corrosion was in "no way catastrophic."
More information on the Austal projects can be found here.
Updated: Tuesday, October 04, 2011, 6:30 PM
By Natalie Wade, al.com al.com
blog.al.com/montgomery/2011/10/uss_montgomery_to_be_named_aft.html
The USS Independence sails out of Mobile for last timeThe Austal-built littoral combat ship USS Independence is the same style ship the USS Montgomery will be. (Press-Register, G.M. Andrews)
MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- The Secretary of the Navy will be in town Thursday to talk about plans to name one of the military's new littoral combat ships after the Capital City.
Montgomery will lend its name to a $439 million ship that will be built by Austal's shipyard in Mobile.
The ship is designed to operate in near-shore environments and is also capable of open-ocean operation. There are two variants of the LCS, and the USS Montgomery will be the Independence variant – the type built by the shipyard in Mobile.
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange will speak at a gathering at 3 p.m. at the Riverfront Amphitheater to celebrate the naming.
Capt. Pamela Kunze, public affairs officer for the office of the Secretary of the Navy, said the ships are named by Mabus and are most often named after mid-sized cities.
This isn't the first time a ship has been named after Alabama's capital. Only one of several ships named the USS Montgomery was commissioned, the DD 121. It was a destroyer commissioned in 1918 and later converted into a minelayer. It served in World War II and was sold for scrap in 1946.
"If you know a little bit about Navy ship namings, it's not uncommon to have previous hull forms named and later on have that particular name honored by being used again," Kunze said.
According to a report by the Press-Register, Austal USA, a Mobile shipyard, was awarded a $3.8 billion contract in December 2010 to build 10 warships for the U.S. Navy by 2018. The company expanded its operations and added about 2,000 jobs to tackle the projects.
A ship completed by Austal earlier this year, the USS Independence, sparked controversy when it was reported to have suffered "significant corrosion."
Navy spokespersons later said the corrosion was in "no way catastrophic."
More information on the Austal projects can be found here.