USS Anchorage will be commissioned in May

The USS Anchorage will be commissioned in its namesake city on May 4.

Mayor Dan Sullivan's office in a release says Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has approved the commissioning date for the first-ever such ceremony in Alaska.

The USS Anchorage will spend 10 days in Anchorage, where tours of the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship will be offered.

San Diego will be its homeport.

It's the second Navy ship to carry the name Anchorage. The first was decommissioned in October 2003 after a deployment to the Arabian Gulf during Operation Iraqi Freedom. It was in service 34 years.