The building of the USS St. Louis has officially begun.

Barbara Broadhurst Taylor, the ship's official sponsor, was in Wisconsin on Wednesday for the ship's keel-laying ceremony. Taylor is the wife of Andy Taylor, executive chairman of Enterprise Holdings.

Barbara Taylor, also a former St. Louis Art Museum board president, performed the ceremonial duty of authenticating the keel at the ceremony held at a Marinette, Wis., shipyard.

As Navy tradition dictates, Taylor's initials were welded onto a steel plate that will be placed in the hull of the ship.

The USS St. Louis is a littoral combat ship designed for engagement in coastal waters. It also will possess mine-clearing and anti-submarine warfare capabilities.

Navy officials report that this will be the seventh Navy ship to bear the name USS St. Louis.

The first was a sloop of war launched in 1828; it served as the flagship for the West Indies Squadron that fought to suppress piracy in the Caribbean/Gulf of Mexico region. The last ship to carry the city's name was a cargo ship that was decommissioned in 1991.

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