US Navy to christen USS Manchester (LCS 14)

The U.S. Navy will christen its newest Independence-variant littoral combat ship, USS Manchester (LCS 14) at Austal’s Mobile, Alabama site, May 7.

Future USS Manchester, designated LCS 14, honors the city of Manchester, New Hampshire.

All independence variant ships are now being built by the Australian-based shipbuilder Austal. The keel laying ceremony for USS Manchester was held June 29, 2015.

Out of 37 modules used to form the 127-meter (419-foot) aluminium trimaran 36 were already being fabricated at the time of the keel laying ceremony.

The future USS Manchester is the second naval vessel to honor New Hampshire’s largest city. The first, a light cruiser, was commissioned Oct. 29, 1946. During nearly ten years of commissioned service, the ship completed numerous deployments, including three combat deployments in support of operations during the Korean conflict. The ship was decommissioned June 27, 1956 and stricken from the Navy list April 1, 1960.

“The christening of the future USS Manchester represents another step forward as we continue to grow our fleet and serves as a reminder of the importance of our Navy’s partnership with the highly-skilled and dedicated shipbuilders of our nation’s industrial base,” said Ray Mabus, secretary of the Navy.