Photo: United States Navy
The US Navy will commission a new ship on Saturday named for a Medal of Honor recipient born in Oklahoma. Captain Richard McCool Junior of Tishomingo served in World War Two. He was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1945 for heroism he displayed after his ship was attacked by kamikaze aircraft in the Battle of Okinawa.
Despite suffering from shrapnel wounds and painful burns, he led efforts to battle a blazing fire on his ship and rescue injured sailors. LPD 29 will be the first of its name.
The new USS Richard M. McCool Junior is a transport ship. It will be commissioned Saturday in Pensacola, Florida. McCool died in 2008 at the age of 86.
Richard M. McCool Jr. will be the Navy’s 13th San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship.
Amphibious transport docks are used to transport and land Marines, their equipment, and supplies by embarked Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) or conventional landing craft and amphibious assault vehicles (AAV) augmented by helicopters or vertical take-off and landing aircraft (MV 22). These ships support amphibious assault, special operations, or expeditionary warfare missions and serve as secondary aviation platforms for amphibious operations.