WWII Navy Veteran and Kansas City Native Visits USS Kansas City (LCS 22)

by Petty Officer 2nd Class Vance Hand

21 January 2022 NAVAL BASE SAN DIEGO -- Retired Navy Quartermaster 2nd Class Norman Williams visited Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Kansas City (LCS 22) during a scheduled visit 21 Jan, 2022.

Williams, a native of Kansas City, served onboard hospital ship USS Relief (AH-1) during WWII from 1944 to 1946.

“It’s an honor to have him here with us, especially being a veteran who hails from our namesake Kansas City” said Cmdr. Wayne Gehman, Kansas City commanding officer “Veteran Sailors like Williams exemplify the importance of recognizing our history as a service and how far we have come.

Kansas City was built in Mobile, Alabama by Austal USA. The ship was commissioned 20 June, 2020 before being assigned to Littoral Combat Ship Squadron ONE (COMLCSRON ONE) in San Diego.

“The Navy has made a lot of advancements since my time in,” said Williams. “I’m impressed by the equipment and the people running it, and it’s been great getting to see how far we’ve come."

During Williams’s time serving aboard Relief, the crew aided and transported casualties throughout the war, mainly from Okinawa and Guam. Afterwards, Relief was stationed in the Philippines in preparation for the invasion of the Japanese mainland.

Littoral combat ships are fast, agile and networked surface combatants, 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.