New Addition to the Navy’s Fleet Has a Familiar Name

The third Navy ship to bear the name Coronado was christened Saturday at the Alabama shipyard where it was built. Coronado native is the ship’s sponsor and performed the traditional breaking of a Champagne bottle across its bow.

The Coronado is an Independence-variant littoral combat ship capable of being outfitted with reconfigurable payloads that can be changed quickly to support mine countermeasure, anti-submarine and surface warfare missions, according to Austal, the company that built the ship. The 127-meter, all-aluminum vessel has a maximum speed of more than 45 knots.

Coronado Mayor Casey Tanaka made the trip to Mobile to witness the christening, which was also attended by Keith’s daughter, Isabella Keith Drouin, who served at the matron of honor.

The Coronado will be based in San Diego. The other two Navy ships that sailed as the Coronado were a World War II Tacoma-class patrol frigate, and an Austin-class amphibious transport dock that was decommissioned in 2006 after serving as flagship for the 3^rd Fleet.