The ship is an Independence-class littoral combat ship of the United States Navy and the fifth ship to be named after Cincinnati, Ohio and manned by 40 core crew (8 officers, 32 enlisted) and up to 35 mission crew. She is currently stationed in San Diego, CA. The USS Cincinnati Commissioning Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity created in 2018 to support the traditional Navy commissi
oning ceremony for the USS Cincinnati (LCS 20) in Gulfport, Mississippi. Having successfully achieved that goal, we continue our support to our ship and her crew by funding crew morale activities; sustaining an endowment to award an annual scholarship to a family member of the ship’s crew; and by working with Cincinnati-area community, civic and business leaders to engender a sense of community pride and to foster positive relationships between the Queen City and her namesake ship. Through increased awareness we can support the crew with little tokens to the ship throughout the year and regular communication. For example, we have sent playing cards with Cincinnati images, Christmas cards, Montgomery Inn BBQ Sauce, a Vine Street sign that hangs in a passageway on the ship, or custom Ohio license plates for the forklift on the ship. Recently members of the committee traveled out to San Diego the weekend of the Super Bowl and through the support of citizens and businesses in our area we are able to bring some Bengals gear (flags, t shirts, rally towels) to the ship so they could have a “hometown” super bowl party.
