USS Jackson Commissioned

The U.S. Navy’s Independence-class littoral combat ship USS Jackson (LCS 6) was commissioned in Gulfport, Mississipi during a ceremony on December 5.

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, who helped name the ship in 2011, placed the ship under service of U.S. Navy.

Mississippi Senator Thad Cochran’s daughter, Dr. Kate Cochran, was the ship’s sponsor. It’s the first ship to bear the name of Mississippi’s capital city.

Command Senior Chief Ken Ballard: “For it to be named after the city, the capital of the state in which you were born, is even more of a phenomenal feeling,”

Ballard and 52 other crewmembers will man missions aboard the Jackson, one of the fastest and most technologically advanced warships in the world.

“They’re providing incredible presence. They’re providing lethality. They’re providing a lot of things that the United States Navy needs today and is going to need for years in the future,” said Mabus.

The 127-meter ship weighs in at 3,100 tons and can travel at speeds in excess of 40 knots. The USS Jackson will be home ported at Naval Base San Diego.

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