MARINETTE, Wis. — The U.S. Navy is ready to christen a combat ship that will become the nation’s fourth military vessel named the USS Indianapolis.
The wife of U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly, Jill Donnelly, is scheduled to christen the ship during Saturday’s ceremony at a Marinette, Wisconsin, shipyard by smashing a bottle of sparkling wine across its bow.
The second USS Indianapolis was sunk by a Japanese submarine on July 30, 1945, while returning from a Pacific island where it delivered key components for the Hiroshima atomic bomb. Only 317 of its nearly 1,200 crewmen survived the sinking and days in shark-infested waters in the closing days of World War II.
The new USS Indianapolis is a combat ship that’s flexible for a variety of missions, including mine-clearing and anti-surface warfare.
