The U.S. Navy will be sending a shipping to anchor off the Bristol shore and help celebrate Independence Day in the Ocean State. The exact details of her arrival and availability to the public have not been confirmed yet.

USS Tornado (PC-14) is the 14^th and final of the Cyclone coastal patrol ships. Her keel was laid on Aug. 25, 1998, and was commissioned on June 24, 2000, with four officers, 24 enlisted and eight Special Forces personnel. She is 170 feet long, with a 25-foot beam. Her armament consists of several MK 38 and 50-caliber machine guns, grenade launchers and stinger missiles.

On Oct. 1, 2004, USS Tornado was decommissioned from the U.S. Navy and officially transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard, where she was recommissioned as USCGC (WPC 14), where she remained until Sept. 30, 2011, when she was re-transferred back to the U.S. Navy and re-commissioned on Dec. 6, 2011. The Tornado is homeported at Navy Amphibious Base, Little Creek, Va.

Her primary mission, in addition to drug interdiction, is coastal patrol to help protect our nation’s coastline, ports, and waterways from terrorist attack. She is presently commanded by LCDR Brian W. Steuber, a native of New Jersey, who enlisted in the Navy in 1996 and was commissioned in 2008.