Artist's rendering of the LCS ships built by Lockheed Martin

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 6 — This afternoon, Secretary of the Navy Donald Winters announced that the newest littoral combat ship (LCS) will be named USS Fort Worth.

The announcement comes nearly three years after the grassroots effort began by Congresswoman Granger and the community to name the ship after the city in honor of Fort Worth’s rich military history.

“What a remarkable day for our city of Fort Worth,” Granger said. “The thousands of letters, drawings, phone calls, and outpouring of support from the community over the last couple of years showed the Navy just how special this is for us. This was truly a community wide effort.”

The littoral combat ship is a 21st Century ship that is designed to allow access to shallow coastal waters for missions such as mine warfare, anti-submarine warfare and surface warfare. It will also be outfitted with reconfigurable payloads that can be changed out quickly to accommodate various missions.

The USS Fort Worth will be designated LCS-3 and will be built by Lockheed Martin. It will be 378 feet in length, have a waterline beam of 57 feet, displace approximately 3,000 tons and will make speed in excess of 40 knots.  Based on previous LCS construction timelines, the USS Fort Worth is slated for completion around 2012.

“The LCS is a state-of-the-art combat ship that will continue to put our Navy at the cutting edge of naval warfare,” Granger said.

Currently, the USS Freedom (LCS-1) is the only littoral combat ship in service. Another ship, LCS-2, is being built and will be named the USS Independence. The vessels in the Freedom class are named after American mid-sized cities, small towns and communities.

“Fort Worth is steeped in military tradition and has always been a patriotic community,” Granger said. “Today is a well deserved honor for our community.”

The USS Freedom, the first ship in the littoral combat ship class, on its maiden voyage. The USS Fort Worth will be the third ship in this class.

The USS Fort Worth will share the design features of the the USS Freedom, pitcured above.