Bismarck Mayor Mike Seminary joined Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and Gov. Jack Dalrymple, to formally announce the next joint high speed vessel will be named the USNS City of Bismarck (JHSV 9) during a ceremony at the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck Wednesday.

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.

The JHSV marks the second naval ship currently named in the state of North Dakota. The USS North Dakota, a Virginia-class attack submarine, was commissioned in Groton, Connecticut on October 25, 2014.

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