NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — WAVY’s Navy Ship Salute is a feature on WAVY News 10 Today. Each month, in partnership with the U.S. Navy, WAVY-TV 10 will profile a different ship based at the world’s largest Navy base: Naval Station Norfolk. The series aims to better introduce our viewers to some of the largest floating taxpayer assets there are, as well as life aboard a U.S. Navy ship.
For March 2023, 10 On Your Side was welcomed on board USS Cooperstown (LCS-23). This ship is actually not based in Hampton Roads, but was in Norfolk for training. USS Cooperstown is homeported at Naval Station Mayport in Jacksonville, Florida.
USS Cooperstown is a Freedom-class littoral combat ship that was only delivered to the Navy in September 2022. She has yet to be commissioned. Built Marinette Marine in Marinette, Wisconsin, she named after the village in New York, which is home to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
“We’re actually named after the 70 baseball players that are also veterans that are in the baseball hall of fame,” Cmdr. Daxton Moore, Commanding Officer of USS Cooperstown, said. “We have our Bob Feller memorial on board which Bob Feller is the only chief petty officer in the baseball hall of fame.”
Feller pitched 18 seasons for the Cleveland Indians between 1936 and 1956. During the war, he served on USS Alabama.
“The LCS is a fast, agile, mission-focused platform designed to operate in near-shore and open ocean environments, capable of winning against 21st-century coastal threats such as mines and swarming small craft,” according to a release from Naval Sea Systems Command. “The ships are capable of supporting forward presence, maritime security, sea control and deterrence.”
The ship is 388 feet long and has a maximum navigational draft of 14 feet allowing the ship to go into more shallow waters.
Up on the bridge, you won’t find a steering wheel.
“Not a steering wheel and props and rudders, we have essentially a large water jet, imagine a jet ski just scaled up 30 times,’ Lt. Warner Vanos, the ship’s navigator, said.
One of the reasons USS Cooperstown was moored in Norfolk was to conduct what is known as un-rep training.
USNS Robert E. Perry (T-AKE-5), a Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ship, docked across the pier from USS Cooperstown in order to allow the crew to practice refueling at sea.
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