NEW NAVY WARSHIP WILL VISIT CAPE EN ROUTE TO ST. LOUIS COMMISSIONING

The Navy's newest coastal patrol ship, USS Squall (PC 7), will visit Cape Girardeau today and next week as it travels the Mississippi River for its commissioning at St. Louis as a U.S. naval warship.

Why did the Navy choose St. Louis, which is more than 1,000 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, as the site for the commissioning of one of its warships? A Navy spokesman credited the St. Louis council of the Navy League -- a civilian group that promotes the interests of the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and the Merchant Marine -- for wanting to make it visible.

The 170-foot ship will stop at Cape Girardeau en route to its July 4 commissioning ceremony at the foot of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. It will return to Cape Girardeau on July 5, while en route to New Orleans.

The Squall is scheduled to arrive here at about 9 p.m., said Kim Groves of the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"The Squall will spend the night at Cape, then depart at 5 a.m. Wednesday for St. Louis," said Groves. "After the commissioning ceremony it will return to Cape on July 5, arriving at approximately 6 p.m. There will be public tours of the ship on its return visit to Cape."

The ship is scheduled to arrive at the U.S. Coast Guard Base at the foot of Arsenal Street in St. Louis early Wednesday afternoon. From there it will travel to the foot of the Gateway Arch, where it will participate in a number of special events and activities prior to the July 4 commissioning ceremony.

Groves said the CVB plans special activities in connection with the Squall's July 5 port call at Cape Girardeau. She said, "We have tentatively planned some fun and games on the waterfront for the Boys and Girl Scouts and the crew of the Squall. Public tours of the ship will be given from 6:30-8 p.m. at no charge."

A color ceremony will be at 8 p.m. July 5.

For those who want to tour the Squall in St. Louis this weekend, it will be open to the public after 6 p.m. each day at the foot of the Gateway Arch Thursday through Monday.

The Navy's office of information at Dallas, Texas, said the Squall is the seventh of 13 ships to be commissioned across the country for the Navy's Special Operations Command.

The Navy said the ship's mission is maritime special operations, which include coastal patrol, interdiction and direct support to special operations forces such as the Navy SEALS.

The ship is handled by a crew that includes four officers and 22 enlisted sailors. It also has sleeping, operations and prepping areas for a nine-man squad of Navy SEALS. The ship's commanding officer is Lt. Cmdr. Christopher McDonald.

The Squall was built by Bollinger Shipbuilding in Lockport, La. It is one of 13 ships of its class that will be built in south Louisiana.

The ship, which has a draft of only eight feet, can travel at speeds exceeding 35 knots, or over 40 mph. The ship weighs 238.5 tons and is powered by four 3,350-horsepower diesel engines. The ship has an operating range of 2,000 nautical miles.

It is the first Naval warship to visit Cape Girardeau in many years.

The Navy cruiser, USS Nashville, made a port call at Cape Girardeau in May 1899. The Nashville had the distinction of firing the first shot of the Spanish-American War and captured four Spanish vessels.

In June 1919, the Navy destroyer, USS Isabel, a flotilla of smaller ships including a captured German submarine, and three Navy submarine chasers visited Cape Girardeau.

After leaving Cape Girardeau July 6, the Squall will make a number of other port calls, including visits at Cairo, Ill.; Paducah and Wickliffe, Ky.; New Madrid, Memphis, Tenn.; Helena, Ark.; and Rosedale and Greenville, Miss.