Navy ship spending maiden voyage trapped in ice

The commissioning of the USS Little Rock was held in Buffalo, New York, last month, on a day so cold that people’s breath billowed through the air as they spoke. That didn’t stop a string of military officials and a bundled-up delegation from Arkansas from singing the praises of the Navy’s newest warship.

One Navy official spoke of the combat ship’s “adaptability, speed and maneuverability.” A Navy chaplain bowed his head in prayer to bless the Little Rock before it sailed to its home port, Naval Station Mayport in Jacksonville, Florida.

“We commend this ship, the USS Little Rock, to your care and divine providence,” the chaplain said. “Grant them fair winds and following seas.”

Despite the benedictions, the ship’s maiden voyage has gotten off to a rather inauspicious start. A week after it was commissioned, as it made its way up the Saint Lawrence Seaway, the USS Little Rock became trapped by ice near Montreal.

It has remained stuck there since Christmas Eve, the Toronto Star first reported, thanks to “unusually heavy ice conditions.”

Temporary heaters and 16 de-icers have been added to the USS Little Rock, and its crew members — some 70 officers and personnel in all — have been given new cold-weather clothing while staying on the ship for training and certification during the delay, a Navy spokeswoman, Lt. Cmdr. Courtney Hillson, said.

“Keeping the ship in Montreal until waterways are clear ensures the safety of the ship and crew, and will have limited impact on the ship’s operational schedule,” she told the Star.

It’s unclear how long it will take before the waterways near the trapped ship are navigable again or whether the Navy considered sending in icebreakers to free the USS Little Rock.

According to the Navy’s website, the USS Little Rock is a 389-foot-long littoral combat ship that uses “two gas turbine engines, two propulsion diesels and four waterjets to speeds up to 45-plus knots” — when it’s not surrounded by ice.