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USS Fort Lauderdale

Future USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD 28)
Set for Commissioning on Saturday, July 30th

By Gary Bitner

Navy ships attract attention wherever they “The commissioning of USS Fort Lauderdale is the result of
sail, from South Florida across the Atlantic many years of coordination and hard work by our lawmakers,
U.S.and Pacific Oceans to hundreds of foreign commissioning committee, civic leaders, contractors, industry
and domestic ports of call. At each port, passersby stop to specialists, and especially our sailors, Quaresimo said.
admire and visually inspect the arriving and departing ships, “I couldn’t be prouder of the uniformed men and women who
with their decks full of complex military equipment and a gave a mountain of cold steel form and a heartbeat. And in
complement of U.S. Navy sailors, dressed in white. turn they should be proud of what they’ve done.

The names of the ships attract attention, too. Naming Credited to the Late Charles
And so it will be that later this summer, the USS Fort "Chuck" Black
Lauderdale (LPD 28) will take its place in the U.S. Navy fleet The ship’s naming was in large part the brainchild of the late
as the newest Navy ship, a retired Senior Chief Petty Officer Charles "Chuck" Black, who
San Antonio-class amphibious led a years-long effort to get the U.S. Navy to name a ship
transport dock ship. The “USS Fort Lauderdale.
USS Fort Lauderdale will be Black, who passed away at age 63 in 2016, served 20 years
commissioned at 10 a.m. in the U.S. Navy and was involved in several of the annual
on Saturday, July 30 at Port Broward Navy Days Fleet Week activities at Port Everglades.
Everglades. It will be the first He served on the Navy League's national board of directors.
U.S. Navy ship named for the The U.S. Navy announced in March of 2016 that it would
City of Fort Lauderdale.
name an amphibious transportation dock vessel for the City of
Capt. James Quaresimo, Fort Lauderdale.
a 1997 Summa Cum Laude Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis recently told the Sun
graduate of Jacksonville Sentinel that naming a ship after the City, “acknowledges the
University, is the long history our community has had with the Navy.
commanding officer. Captain James Quaresimo

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