Taking a quick moment to recognize the celebration this weekend to mark the 10th anniversary of the USS Fort Worth, the first naval warship to be named Fort Worth, the city founded by U.S. Army guys.
To mark the 10th anniversary of its commissioning Sunday, the ship’s commander and five crewmen joined to participate in a reception that included food and fraternization.
“Since the day of the ship’s commissioning, our work is focused on supporting the USS Fort Worth crew and their families!” says retired Navy captain and president of the USS Fort Worth Support Committee Rudy Laco.
The ship was commissioned on Sept. 21, 2012. The USS Fort Worth is a littoral combat ship, those warships which were designed to be fast and maneuverable, ideal for shallow water.
The USS Fort Worth had important friends in U. S Rep. Kay Granger, who sponsored the ship’s creation in Congress, and Gordon England, the former president of General Dynamics (today, Lockheed Martin) and Secretary of the Navy who advocated for it.
The USS Fort Worth’s home port is San Diego. Its coat of arms bears the Texas flag, a longhorn, and a very distinctive Fort Worth motto, “Grit and Tenacity.”
Since its commissioning, USS Fort Worth has been a mighty traveler. Some places include the Korean peninsula, the South China Sea, and Singapore. In 2020, the Navy had plans to retire USS Fort Worth and its sister ship, Freedom, but Congress blocked those plans.
