BUFFALO, N.Y. — The newly commissioned USS Little Rock has sailed out of Buffalo, en route to its homeport in Mayport, Fla.
The Navy's new littoral combat ship spent the last two weeks on the upstate New York city's waterfront, near the decommissioned World War II-era USS Little Rock, which is permanently docked as a floating museum.
The ship departed Wednesday, a day later than scheduled because of 50 mph wind gusts on Lake Erie. It will travel through Canada's Welland Canal to Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence Seaway, then down the Atlantic Coast to its homeport in Mayport, Fla.
More than 8,000 people bundled against cold and snow to see the new ship commissioned last Saturday. It was the first time in the Navy's history that a combat ship has been accepted into the fleet alongside its namesake.