Seeing the Navy's Newest Ship

As I said in the last post, I saw that a new littoral combat ship was coming down.

 The ship in question was listed on AIS as "Government Vessel 19" but it is known as the USS St Louis.

 She is named after the city of St. Louis and is the seventh Navy ship to be named such.   I believe she is the ninth ship to be completed by Marinette Marine in Wisconsin.  Supposedly there will be seven more built after this but I'm not sure as the class is being replaced by a frigate.

 The first St. Louis was a sloop of war commissioned in 1828 and de-commissioned at the end of the Civil War.  The second one was an ironclad gunboat commssioned in 1861, she was sunk by a mine in 1863.  The third St. Louis was a troop transport built in 1898 and served until 1920.  The next St. Louis was a protected cruiser that was in service from 1906 to 1922.

 The fifth St. Louis was a light cruiser of the Brooklyn class that served in the Pacific Theater of World War II.  She was very active and earned 11 battle stars.  She was present at Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941.  She was making preparations to get underway at 8:06 and at 8:20 she had shot down her first Japanese plane.  She was on the open sea by 10:00.    She participated in several battles afterwards.  In 1951, she was transferred to Brazil and served there until 1980.  She sank on the way to the scrappers.

 The next St. Louis was an amphibious cargo ship that served from 1969 to 1991.

 This St. Louis was launched and christened on December 15, 2018.  She was acquired by the Navy on February 6 of this year.  Eventually, she will find her way to Jacksonville where her fitting out will be completed and she will serve in the Second LCS squadron.

 I think these are cool looking ships but I think the Navy is still having issues with them.  In fact, I read an article not too long ago that they are mothballing a couple of them.  Given that Navy ships typically last about 20 years, that is big, I think.

 She pulls away.  I think she stopped in Cleveland for fueling.  I'm not sure where she is right now.

 She shows off her helicopter deck. 

One more shot before heading back home.