New warship Charleston to be commissioned

CHARLESTON, S.C. — The commissioning ceremony for one of the Navy’s newest combat ships is set next month in South Carolina.

Charleston officials said in a news release Monday that the littoral combat ship Charleston will be commissioned during a ceremony March 2.

It's the sixth shipped named Charleston in naval history.

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Charlotte Riley, wife of former Charleston Mayor Joe Riley, is the ship’s sponsor and broke a bottle of sparkling wine across the bow of the Independence-class littoral combat ship two years ago when it was christened in Mobile, Alabama.

Littoral Combat Ships are about 420 feet long and have a top speed of more than 46 mph and cost about $440 million each.

The most recent vessel named after Charleston was a cargo ship during the Vietnam War.

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