Future USS Oakland Launched at Austal’s Alabama Facility

WASHINGTON
— The future USS Oakland (LCS 24) was launched July 21 at Austal USA’s ship
manufacturing facility in Mobile, Alabama, according to the Naval Sea System
Command’s Program Executive Office-Ships Unmanned and Small Combatants. This marked
the first time the ship floated in water as it is prepared for delivery next year.

The future
USS Oakland is the 12th of 19 Independence-variant littoral combat ships that
will join the fleet. Ship sponsor Kate Brandt, Google’s sustainability officer,
christened the vessel in Mobile on June 29. She previously welded her initials
onto a steel plate included in Oakland’s hull during a keel-laying ceremony last
July. Brandt is a recipient of the Distinguished Public Service Award, the
highest award the U.S. Navy can give to a civilian.

Four
additional LCSs are under various stages of construction at Austal’s Alabama
shipyard. The future USS Kansas City (LCS 22) is preparing for sea trials. The
future USS Mobile (LCS 26), Savannah (LCS 28) and Canberra (LCS 30) are under
construction, and Austal has four more LCSs under contract.

The future USS Oakland
honors the long-standing history its namesake city has with the Navy. It will
be the third naval ship to bear the city’s name. The first, commissioned in
1918, was largely used to transport cargo. The second USS Oakland was
commissioned in 1942 during the height of World War II. While in service for
just seven years, it was key in many anti-aircraft missions in places such as
Pearl Harbor, Marshall Islands, Pagan, Guam, Iwo Jima, Rota, Peleliu and
Okinawa. After the war, Oakland performed two duty patrols off the coast of
China before being decommissioned.