Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced the next joint high speed vessel will be named USNS City of Bismarck (JHSV 9) during a ceremony at the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck today.

Mabus named the ship in honor of North Dakota's capital city; this will be the first ship in naval history to bear the name.

JHSVs have a 20,000 square foot open mission deck and an aviation flight deck to support day and night air vehicle launch and recovery operations. They can operate in a variety of roles to include supporting overseas contingency operations, conducting humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, supporting special operations forces and supporting emerging joint sea-basing concepts.

USNS Bismarck is being constructed by Austal USA in Mobile, Alabama, and will join the fleet at the beginning of next year.

Additional information about JHSV is available online at: http://www.navy.mil/local/JHSV/ .