FEBRUARY 8, 2019 – The Navy’s newest Independence variant littoral combat ship, the future USS Tulsa (LCS 16), will be commissioned at 10:00 a.m. (PST) on Saturday, Feb. 16 at San Francisco’s Embarcadero Pier 30/32. This event is open to the public, but tickets are required.
Oklahoma Senator James Lankford will deliver the commissioning ceremony’s principal address. Former Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor will serve as the ship’s sponsor. The ceremony will be highlighted by a time-honored Navy tradition when Ms. Taylor will give the first order to “man our ship and bring her to life!”
Cmdr. Drew A. Borovies, a native of Washington, D.C. is the commanding officer of the ship and leads the core crew of 70 officers and enlisted personnel. The 3,200-ton Tulsa was built by was built by General Dynamics/Austal USA in Mobile, Alabama. The ship is 421 feet in length, has a beam of 103 feet, and a navigational draft of 15 feet. The ship is powered by two gas turbine engines, two main propulsion diesel engines, and four waterjets to speeds up to 40-plus knots.
LCS 16 is the fifteenth littoral combat ship to enter the fleet and the eighth of the Independence variant. It will be the second ship to be named to honor the city and citizens of Tulsa – Oklahoma’s second largest city.
The littoral combat ship is a fast, agile, mission-focused platform designed to operate in near-shore environments, while capable of open-ocean tasking and winning against 21st-century coastal threats such as submarines, mines, and swarming small craft. They are capable of supporting forward presence, maritime security, sea control and deterrence.
USS Tulsa will be homeported at Naval Base San Diego.
For those unable to attend, the ceremony will be live-streamed at: http://www.navy.mil/ah_online/live/ah-live.asp. The link will become active approximately five minutes prior to the event (9:55 a.m. PST).