Navy to Commission Future Littoral Combat Ship Kingsville

The Honorable Russell Rumbaugh, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Financial Management and Comptroller, will deliver the commissioning ceremony's principal address. Remarks will also be provided by the Honorable Vicente Gonzalez, U.S. Representative, Texas’ 34th District, the Honorable Michael Cloud, U.S. Representative, Texas’ 27th District, Vice Admiral Brad Skillman, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Integration of Capabilities and Resources, the Honorable Paulette Guajardo, Mayor of the City of Corpus Christi, Texas, the Honorable Sam Fugate, Mayor of the City of Kingsville, Texas, and Michelle Kruger, President, Austal USA. The ship's sponsor is Katherine Kline, a member of the sixth generation of the King Ranch family, descendants of steamboat captain Richard King who founded the King Ranch, located in Kingsville, Texas, in 1853.

Kingsville is the 18th Independence-variant littoral combat ship (LCS) commissioned in the United States Navy, and the first U.S. Navy ship to bear this namesake. USS Kingsville highlights not only the city of Kingsville and Naval Air Station Kingsville but also shows the efforts of two communities working together.

The LCS class consists of two variants, the Freedom and the Independence, designed and built by two industry teams. Lockheed Martin leads the Freedom-variant team, the odd-numbered hulls, in Marinette, Wisconsin. Austal USA leads the Independence-variant team in Mobile, Alabama, for LCS 6 and the subsequent even-numbered hulls.

Littoral combat ships are fast, optimally manned, mission-tailored surface combatants that operate in near-shore and open-ocean environments, winning against 21st-century coastal threats. LCS ships integrate with joint, combined, manned, and unmanned teams to support forward presence, maritime security, sea control, and deterrence missions around the globe. The ceremony will be live-streamed at www.dvidshub.net/webcast/34091. The link becomes active approximately ten minutes prior to the event at 09:50 a.m. CDT.

Media may direct queries to the Navy Office of Information at (703) 697-5342. More information on the littoral combat ship program can be found at: https://www.navy.mil/Resources/Fact-Files/Display-FactFiles/Article/2171607/littoral-combat-ship-class-lcs/