KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City residents hoping to collectively celebrate a new piece of military history this June are in for some rough waters.
The public celebration of the new USS Kansas City has been canceled due to COVID-19, an official with the commissioning committee said in a statement. It was originally scheduled for June 20.
The vessel is a part of a new breed of Navy warship. It’s capable of moving much faster through the water while sporting powerful weaponry and transporting a large amount of personnel and equipment.
“Littoral combat ships are fast, agile and networked surface combatants, optimized for operating in the near-shore environments,” according to an article from the U.S. Navy.
In the article, a test mission involving a similar vessel successfully demonstrated a Naval Strike Missile, which is a long-range, precision strike weapon that can find and destroy enemy ships at distances up to 100 nautical miles away. The missile “flies at sea-skimming altitude, has terrain-following capability and uses an advanced seeker for precise targeting in challenging conditions.”
“Whilst I’m sad the city has to wait a bit longer to celebrate the commissions of the USS Kansas City, we are used to waiting for great things,” Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver, II, D-Mo., said in the statement. “We will continue to support the ship and its sailors and look forward to the day we can give them the proper celebration and recognition they deserve.”
The USS Kansas City arrived at Naval Base San Diego on Sunday, May 24. It will still be administratively commissioned on June 20 and will then join the Navy fleet at sea.
“The US Navy and the USS Kansas City Commissioning Committee will work together to schedule a celebration to honor the ship and it’s (sic) sailors in the future,” the committee said in the statement.
It’s the second ship to be named after Kansas City.
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