USS Santa Barbara construction to commissioning process to take 3 years

Back in October, it was announced that the next Independence-Variant Littoral Combat ship will be named U.S.S Santa Barbara.

The community was abuzz and kept asking the Santa Barbara Navy League questions about the ship’s timeline.

So officials brought a representative from the shipbuilding company, Austal USA, to answer questions and keep that momentum going.

Construction of the U.S.S. Santa Barbara will begin this August in Mobile, Alabama. But construction to commissioning will be a three-year process.

“They’re building several other ships right now. They took their time to come up here and answer the questions because they want to make sure the interest remains strong because it’s very important to have that support for the commissioning itself,” said Kevin McTague, Santa Barbara Navy League President.

Santa Barbara Navy League’s leadership say community support during this process will be imperative and they’ll be sure to keep us updated so we can all be involved.