Hemmed in by ice in the frigid Menominee River in Wisconsin, the future USS Fort Worth is finally seeing a regular dose of sailors beginning to learn how to operate it.
"I've been up here for over a year in a building by myself," said Navy Cmdr. Randy Blankenship, commander of one of the ship's two crews. "Now it's come alive with sailors. It's great."Seven months from now, the first warship to bear the city's name will be commissioned into the Navy at a pier in Galveston, an event that many leaders in Fort Worth are eagerly awaiting."This has been one of the neatest things I've ever done," said Roger Williams, a prominent businessman who led the USS Fort Worth Commissioning Committee for 18 months, until late last year. "This is a unique experience that no past Fort Worthian has ever seen or been a part of."As chairman, Williams raised more than $300,000 from corporations and individuals. After he stepped aside, retired Navy Capt. T.D. Smyers took his place at the request of U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, the ship's sponsor.Smyers, who commanded Naval Air Station Fort Worth from 2008 to 2011, said he was thrilled to be the city's point man on the commissioning ceremonies."It was a no-brainer for me," he said, joking that he "can speak the lingo and understand the acronyms."The 389-foot littoral combat ship, with a price tag around $480 million, is the third of its class, a post-9-11 concept designed for flexibility, speed and shallower coastal waters. Former Navy Secretary Gordon England of Fort Worth played a major role in the idea.Built in Marinette, Wis., by a contractor team led by Lockheed Martin, the ship is designed for a multitude of missions, such as special operations, submarine-hunting and countermine measures. The ship will have two crews, blue and gold, that will rotate on and off.While the gold crew is still forming, the blue crew is fully manned and in Wisconsin, learning from the contractors and suppliers how to operate the major systems, Blankenship said. The sailors will also begin firefighting and flooding drills in the coming weeks, he said."We'll be getting ourselves intimately familiar with this great new Navy warship," he said.In April or May, another round of sea trials will begin; the first was in the fall. Blankenship said several items and systems needed corrections or modifications after the trials, including safety improvements to the anchor system and a number of software upgrades.In the summer, the blue crew will take the ship out the St. Lawrence River into the Atlantic Ocean and around to the Gulf of Mexico for the Sept. 22 commissioning.The Navy is responsible for the commissioning ceremony, where the ship joins the fleet and earns the USS title. It will then head to San Diego, where it will be home-ported.But other events associated with the ceremony, such as dinners and receptions for Fort Worth people and the ship's crew, have to be paid for with private donations. Williams and Smyers said the committee will not spend all the money that weekend, though.Some of the money will be used on crew amenities that the Navy will not pay for and on a scholarship fund. The committee also intends several public events in the coming months, including placing an anchor and marker in Veterans Memorial Park on Camp Bowie Boulevard."The nature of a relationship between a city and a ship is a long-term thing," Smyers said. "It is not event-driven. It's for the lifetime of the ship. ... We have to get this right. This is a proud city in Texas intersecting with the United States Navy."Chris Vaughn, 817-390-7547Twitter: @CVaughnFWHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
