Name Montgomery Awarded 29 December 2010 Christened 8 November 2014 Launched 6 August 2014 Displacement 797,000 kg | Namesake City of Montgomery Laid down 25 June 2013 Construction started 25 June 2013 Length 127 m Builder Austal USA | |
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Sponsored by Mary Blackshear Sessions | ||
USS Montgomery (LCS-8) is an Independence-class littoral combat ship of the United States Navy. She is the fourth ship to be named for Montgomery, the capital of Alabama.
Montgomery was launched from Austal USA's shipyards in Mobile, Alabama on 6 August 2014. Montgomery was christened on 8 November 2014. The ship was commissioned on 10 September 2016 in Mobile, Alabama. The commanding officer is Commander Mark Stefanik.
On 13 September 2016, Montgomery experienced two unrelated casualties within a 24-hour period while transiting from Mobile, Alabama to her homeport of San Diego, CA. The first casualty happened when the crew detected a seawater leak in the hydraulic cooling system. Later that day, Montgomery experienced a casualty to one of its gas turbine engines.
On 4 October 2016, a tug collided with Montgomery while the latter was getting underway to avoid Hurricane Matthew. Due to the collision, a crack measuring a foot in length was caused amidships, approximately three feet above the waterline. Five strakes were also bent. Temporary repairs were conducted, and the ship left port as planned.
On 29 October 2016 Montgomery sustained an 18-inch-long crack to its hull while passing through the Panama Canal en route to its homeport in San Diego. Montgomery was traveling from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean through the canal's series of locks when it hit the concrete center lock wall while under the control of a local Panama Canal pilot.
