The USS Little Rock, also known as Littoral Combat Ship 9, departed Mayport, Fla., Thursday for the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility for its maiden voyage.

The USS Little Rock, whose homebase is in Florida, will support the Campaign Martillo, a multinational effort targeting illicit trafficking routes in coastal waters along Central America.

If the United States is redeploying every other asset from INDOPACOM to CENTCOM, the USS America ought to be kept in its modest role of deterring the Chinese military in the Indo-Pacific.

The USS Central America sank after crossing paths with a ferocious hurricane.