USS Kingsville (LCS 36) to be commissioned in Texas before heading to San Diego

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — The United States Navy’s newest and one of the last Littoral Combat Ships to be built, the future USS Kingsville (LCS 36), will be commissioned later this week in Corpus Christi, Texas.

USS Kingsville was built in 2021 by shipbuilders Austal USA and christened at Austal USA’s Mobile, Alabama shipyard on April 22, 2023.

Now, in August 2024, the U.S. Navy is getting ready to commission the future USS Kingsville, an Independence-variant Littoral Combat Ship, that will be homeported here in San Diego.

An August 24 ceremony in Corpus Christi, Texas will officially put the Navy combat ship into commission.

The LCS 36 will be the 18th Independence-variant Littoral Combat Ship. After the USS Kingsville, the future USS Pierre (LCS 38) — which was christened on May 18, 2024 in Mobile, Alabama — is the last Independence-variant LCS before the planned closure of the LCS production line.

The Navy says the USS Kingsville is named after the town of Kingsville, Texas, and the King Ranch. Katherine Kline, the ship’s sponsor, is a member of the sixth generation of the King Ranch family, who are descendants of steamboat Captain King, founder of the King Ranch in Kingsville in 1853.

Kline performed the ceremonial bottle break over the bow of the USS Kingsville during the christening ceremony, and will be leading the Navy tradition of giving the order during the commissioning ceremony to “man our ship and bring her to life.”

Austal USA and the U.S. Navy shared some history of the town of Kingsville and why the ship was named after it.

Austal USA says the town originated from the need for a railroad service to connect Brownsville, Texas to St. Louis, Mo. It was founded in 1904, after Captain King’s wife, Henrietta, deeded 40,000 acres from the King Ranch to be available for the development of the Kingsville townsite. The Kingsville community remains vital to the agribusiness of south Texas and maintains a special relationship with Naval Air Station Kingsville.

In 1942, Naval Air Station Kingsville began serving as an auxiliary field for Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, supporting Navy flight training, according to the Navy. Then, in 1968, the airfield evolved into one of three key centers for Navy jet training operations.

The USS Kingsville Facebook page posted on Sunday the combat ship arrived in Corpus Christi in preparation of the commissioning ceremony on Saturday, August 24.

The Independence-variant Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) is a high-speed, shallow draft multi-mission ship capable of operating independently or as part of a battle group, according to Austal USA.

After building the last two LCS, as of this winter, Austal USA said it was constructing two Expeditionary Fast Transport ships, two Navajo-class Towing, Salvage, and Rescue Ships, an Auxiliary Floating Dry Dock Medium craft, and an unmanned surface vessel for the Navy, along with modules for both the Virginia- and Columbia-class submarine programs and aircraft elevators for the Ford-class aircraft carrier fleet.

Construction was also planned to begin this summer on the U.S. Coast Guard’s Heritage-class Offshore Patrol Cutters.

The Independence variant ships are homeported in San Diego.

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