USS Kansas City launched by Navy

For the second time, Kansas City has entered Navy history as the USS Kansas City was christened Saturday in Mobile, Alabama.

The ship will stand as a symbol of the strong bond between the Navy and Marine Corps team and the people of Missouri, Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer said in the statement.

“The ship is a testament to our commitment to provide maritime dominance and power projection required by the nation, and to our partnership with industry to build the Navy the nation needs,” he said.

The modular, reconfigurable LCSs are built to provide joint forces the ability to access critical areas through “surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare and mine countermeasures missions in littoral regions,” the Navy statement said.

“This fine ship, named after Kansas City, the largest city in Missouri and located euphemistically at the junction of jazz and boulevard of BBQ, will soon transfer into the water with a symbolic gesture of good luck and safe travels…with a bottle broken over the bow. The USS Kansas City, without a doubt, will carry with it many stories and journeys that only a few are privileged to make,” Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver said at the ceremony.

The USS Kansas City is described as a high-speed, shallow draft multi-mission ship. It is 418 feet long. It will have a core crew of 40 sailors, according to the Navy.

Austal USA said in a news release that the ship is designed to defeat growing littoral threats and provide access and dominance along coastal waters.

It’s the second ship to be named after Missouri’s largest city. The first USS Kansas City was a Wichita-class replenishment ship commissioned in 1970. Throughout its 24-year lifespan, it accrued numerous unit awards from service in Vietnam and Operation Desert Storm before being retired in 1994, the Navy said.