 |
| USS Fort Lauderdale 8.14.2025. Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Joseph Miller (PHIBRON) |
By Jane Feehan
The city of Fort Lauderdale and the U.S. Navy have shared a strong
connection since World War II. That link served as catalyst for naming a ship
the USS Fort Lauderdale.
The Navy Air Operational Training Command (Naval Air Station) in Fort Lauderdale trained more than 1,700 pilots and crew members for that war, including young Ensign and later President George H. W. Bush.
Fort Lauderdale was also departure site of U.S.
Navy Flight 19 with its five aircraft, and a search plane before mysteriously disappearing
Dec. 5, 1945. Today the NAS operates as a museum and salute to Flight 19 and was
added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
Decades later, a relationship with the U.S. Navy continues
with Fleet Week in Fort Lauderdale when the city celebrates the Navy, Marines
and the U.S. Coast Guard. Ships offer tours and displays of military equipment,
drawing visitors from all of South Florida.
Mayor Jack Seiler (2009-2018) and Charles “Chuck” Black (d.
2016), U.S. Navy (retired), were instrumental in leading efforts for naming a ship
for the city. Seiler brought a delegation to Washington, D.C. in 2011 that led
to a green light in March 2016 from the U.S. Department of the Navy.
It was announced then that a ship would bear the name Fort
Lauderdale, specifically a San-Antonio class ship, an amphibious transportation
dock vessel. (It was reported by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel
that city officials mistakenly thought the name would be assigned to a coastal
combat ship.)
San Antonio-class vessels support a landing force with supplies
and personnel. They are named for cities such as New Orleans and New York. Three ships also bear names as tribute to each of the three cities attacked on September
11, 2001.
The USS Fort Lauderdale LDP 28, the U.S. Navy’s 12th such vessel at the time, was built in Pascagoula, MS by Huntington Ingalls Industries. In 2025, 14 sail out of a planned 26. The vessel features advanced weapons, helicopter platforms that can also facilitate vertical takeoff and landings of other aircraft, and holds about 700 sailors and marines.
Launched on March 28, 2020, and christened Aug. 21, 2021, the USS Fort Lauderdale was delivered to the U.S. Navy Nov. 30, 2021. Its port is Naval Station Norfolk.
The ship made national news when it was deployed
to the Caribbean Sea in support of operations near Venezuela in September 2025.
No doubt locals will line up to see the first ship named for
Fort Lauderdale during a future Fleet Week.
Characteristics:
684 feet long
105-foot beam
Draft 23 feet
Speed -22 knots
Sources
South Florida Sun Sentinel, March 11, 2016
South Florida Sun Sentinel, July 12, 2016
Dvidshub.net or the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service
U.S. Navy - James L. McQuiniff CDR USN LPD28
