New Navy Ship, USNS Choctaw County, Christened In Alabama

The US Navy christened a new ship, the USNS Choctaw County, at a shipyard in Mobile, Alabama on Saturday.

U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus was the keynote speaker at the christening at the Austal USA shipyard.

The new ship is the second joint high-speed vessel to come from Austal's Mobile facility near the Gulf of Mexico.

"It's going to be carrying Marines and soldiers vast distances across the Pacific, well, every ocean that we've got," said Secretary Mabus.

The ship is named after Choctaw County in Oklahoma, Choctaw County in Mississippi and Choctaw County in Alabama.