ST. LOUIS (Tribune Content Agency) — Ray Mabus came here from his home in Mississippi as a young boy to watch the Cardinals play. He returned on Friday as the secretary of the Navy to name a new combat ship the St. Louis.
Mabus announced the name and plans to build the ship, formally known as a littoral combat ship, at a pomp-and-circumstance ceremony in front of the Soldiers’ Memorial.
“This is the coolest job in the world,” Mabus said. “I get to name every Navy ship.”
Mabus — who had to drive to St. Louis on Friday from Chicago, delaying the ceremony, because of a problem with his scheduled flight — spoke of his fond memories of the city burnished by the Cardinals’ greatest hero. He remembered how his father drove him to St. Louis to see Stan Musial play in the early 1960s — and the importance he placed on Musial’s character.
“He said, ‘Stan represents everything that was good about baseball and America,’?” Mabus said.
Mabus recalled being heartbroken when they arrived. Musial didn’t start the game. But then he came in as pinch hitter and knocked a single.
Years later, Mabus, a former governor of Mississippi, remembered Musial when the town of Kosciusko, Miss., wanted a famous Polish-American to attend a ceremony honoring its heritage. Mabus suggested Musial, who agreed to attend. Mabus accompanied him on the trip.
“It remains one of the highlights of my life,” Mabus said.
Mabus said any city that honored Musial, like St. Louis, has “got to be a pretty special city.”
Musial served in the Navy in 1945.
St. Louis, a Midwestern city far from an ocean, seems an ironic name for a seafaring vessel, but five other Navy ships have worn the city’s name. The last was a cargo ship that was deactivated in 1991.
“I think it’s important that we have a St. Louis in the fleet,” Mabus said. “It’s time to keep that storied name alive.”
The first St. Louis, a sloop, hit the water in 1828. The second was an ironclad gunboat built by civil engineer James B. Eads, who later designed the Eads Bridge over the Mississippi River. That boat operated during the American Civil War.
The fourth St. Louis, a light cruiser, was moored in Hawaii during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The ship survived and even shot down Japanese torpedo planes, earning the nickname “Lucky Lou.”
The new St. Louis ship will not be a massive aircraft carrier or submarine buried deep in the ocean. The Navy said it would be about 400 feet in length, “fast and agile,” designed for operation close to shore but capable of cruising the open sea. “It is designed to defeat asymmetric ‘anti-access’ threats such as mines, quiet diesel submarines and fast surface craft,” a Navy statement said.
Mabus has attended many ceremonies for littoral combat ships, which are commonly named after cities. Others have namesakes representing places such as Indianapolis, Detroit, Charleston, S.C., and Tulsa, Okla. About a dozen are currently under construction or in the pre-production phase.
A timeline for the St. Louis’ completion is still in the works.
St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay stood with Mabus as he made the announcement. Afterwards they donned caps showing the USS St. Louis name.
Slay said it was an honor “having this beautiful ship that is defending our nation named after our great city.”
©2015 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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