Ceremony initiates new USS Little Rock littoral combat ship

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - One of the U.S. Navy’s newest warships is named for Arkansas’ capital city.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that the USS Little Rock, also known as LCS-9, was commissioned on the waterfront in Buffalo, New York, on Saturday. The ceremony took place beside the original USS Little Rock, now a 610-foot-long floating museum. It marked the first time a U.S. Navy ship was commissioned alongside the vessel for which it was named.

Put in service in 1945, the elder ship was a light cruiser before it was converted to a guided-missile cruiser. Decommissioned in 1976, it became part of the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park the next year.

The new USS Little Rock is a littoral combat ship, a small, agile model meant for operations close to shore.

___

Information from: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, http://www.arkansasonline.com