The commissioning of the USS Little Rock was held in Buffalo, N.Y., last month, on a day so cold that people's breath billowed through the air as they spoke.
Partway through the ceremony, snow began falling -- sideways -- on the thousands of attendees.
It might have been a sign.
The USS Little Rock has been trapped by ice near Montreal since Christmas Eve, the Toronto Star first reported, thanks to "unusually heavy ice conditions." The Navy's newest warship became trapped a week after it was commissioned, as it made its way up the Saint Lawrence Seaway.
A Navy spokesman told the newspaper that other ships had made it through the area without trouble in December.
"The temperatures in Montreal and throughout the transit area have been colder than normal, and included near-record low temperatures, which created significant and historical conditions in the late December, early January time frame," Lt. Cmdr. Courtney Hillson told the newspaper.
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 as they stay on the ship for training and certification during the delay, Hillson added.
"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. It's also unclear whether the Navy considered sending in icebreakers to free the USS Little Rock.
Hillson did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday morning.
Despite the weather at the ship's commissioning, military officials and a bundled-up delegation from Arkansas sang the praises of the USS Little Rock for more than an hour.
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 was to journey to its home port, Naval Station Mayport in Jacksonville, Fla.
"We commend this ship, the USS Little Rock, to your care and divine providence," the chaplain said. "Grant them fair winds and following seas."
According to the Navy's website, the USS Little Rock is a 389-foot-long littoral combat ship -- "a fast, agile, mission-focused platform designed to operate in near-shore environments, while capable of open-ocean tasking and winning against 21st-century coastal threats such as submarines, mines, and swarming small craft."
It uses "two gas turbine engines, two propulsion diesels and four waterjets to speeds up to 45-plus knots" -- more than 50 mph.
The USS Little Rock was named after another ship that was commissioned in 1945, at the end of World War II. The original USS Little Rock was taken out of service in 1976 and now rests as part of a museum in Buffalo's waterfront district, along with other decommissioned naval ships.
As Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown pointed out at the December ceremony, the commissioning of the second USS Little Rock marked the first time in the Navy's 242-year history that a ship was commissioned alongside the vessel it was named after.
A Section on 01/23/2018