The Navy commissioned the 12th Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship Saturday in New York City on Saturday.
The future USS Cooperstown (LCS-23), named for the hometown of the Baseball Hall of Fame, is one of the last Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ships that the Navy will commission. The Navy christened the last of the Freedom class, USS Cleveland (LCS-31), in April.
The Navy took delivery of Cooperstown in September, USNI News previously reported. It will move to its homeport in Mayport, Fla., following its commissioning ceremony.
Cooperstown is named in honor of the 70 members of the Baseball Hall of Fame who served in the military. It’s the first ship to be named after the New York village.
Joe Torre, an executive with Major League Baseball, was the principal speaker at the commissioning ceremony. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams also spoke.
Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro and Chief of Navy Reserve Vice Adm. John Mustin also spoke.
“LCS-23 honors the baseball greats, who in service of our nation, sacrificed their baseball careers for us,” Del Toro said in a statement. “I have full confidence that the officers and crew of this great ship will continue to honor their legacy.”
Cooperstown was the second ship to deliver with a fix to a complex gearing mechanism that links the ship’s gas turbines to its diesel engines, an issue that affected both USS Detroit (LCS-7) and USS Little Rock (LCS-9) while operating at sea. USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul (LCS-21) was the first ship to deliver with the fix.
Although the Navy is currently commissioning Littoral Combat Ships, it’s also pushing to decommission several of the controversial ships despite their limited time in the service. The Navy plans to decommission USS Sioux City (LCS-11) this year.
