USNS Choctaw County Ready for Service

The USNS Choctaw County was seen up close Saturday at Austal USA in Mobile. The ship was christened inside the hangar, beneath the vessel. "I wont say this is the milestone I'll say its one of the many milestones that we have achieved and will continue to achieve," says Brian Leathers, Interim President at Austal. It's the second joint high speed vessel to come from Austal's Mobile shipyard. Secretary of the Navy, Ray Maybus, was the keynote speaker.
"It's going to be carrying marines and soldiers vast distances across the pacific, well every ocean that we've got," the Secretary said. The USNS Choctaw County is named after three places; Choctaw County in Oklahoma, Choctaw County in Mississippi and Choctaw County in Alabama. Typically a Navy christening has one sponsor, but this time around there were 29 sponsors who all graduated from Ackerman High School in Choctaw County, Mississippi. It's also the same school Secretary Mabus graduated from.