New Navy ship named after a Texas city

GALVESTON, Texas (KXAN) - Texas pride just got a little bit bigger.

A new half-billion dollar combat ship is about to join the U.S. Naval Pacific Fleet.

The U.S.S Fort Worth LCS 3 is a Littoral Combat Ship, a new breed of technology in the Naval Fleet.

• View photos of the USS Fort Worth.

Cmdr. Randy Blankenship is leading one of two crews on the ship.

"The real power of the ship is its very fast and agile platform that is designed to go into the shallow water operations, where most of the threats are, " Blankenship said.

The unique design allows the ship to change its purpose and capabilities for each mission.

The 32,000-ton ship uses its 120,000 horsepower engines to impressively reach 50 mph in just 90 seconds.

This is critical in operations -- some nations use swarming tactics, sending many small boats to attack one large one.

"They're all very fast, we can run with them and we can make their day extremely ugly, " Blakenship said.

The USS Fort Worth has two sets of crews, blue and gold, made up of 40 people each.

Cmdr. Warren Cuffs was born in Fort Worth and is now commander of the gold crew on the USS Fort Worth.

"I told them I'd let them wear their cowboy hats sometime, " Cuffs laughed.

There are a number of Texans who will get to work on board.

"Oh, it's great, that Texan pride, carrying the name Fort Worth," said Senior Chief Petty Officer John Dubose, who is from Gonzales. "A lot of pride to be on here."

Chief Operations Specialist Reggie Williams is from Marble Falls and is excited to be a part of something he has close ties with.

"It's cool when you're from Texas and on a ship named after Texas, " Williams said.

The ship was open to the public for tours, which attracted thousands from around the state.

"It's amazing, when I was in the Navy it was a different world, " said J.D McDanel of Garland, who served in the Navy from 1957 to 1963.

Texan Matthew Smith didn't want to miss out on the opportunity to see the half-billion dollar ship, either.

"[I came to] see what it is our Navy is doing with the latest technology and what they have to protect our shores, " said Smith.

Part of the USS Fort Worth crew will go to the city of Fort Worth this weekend and attend a Texas Rangers game. The ship's captain will throw out the first pitch.

The other crew will take the ship to its home port in San Diego, where they will wait for their first orders.

To view a slide show of the Fort Worth visit its website.