Michelle Obama Christens USCG Ship

First Lady Michelle Obama, and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, right, join guests at the christening ceremony for the third U.S. Coast Guard National Security cutter Stratton (WMSL 752) Friday, July 23, 2010 in Pascagoula, Miss.

It took First Lady Michelle Obama two swings to smash open the sparkling wine she used to christen a ship in honor of the Coast Guard's first female commissioned officer.

The ceremony Friday just south of the Northrop Grumman Mississippi facility where the cutter was built drew about 3,000.

Stratton joined up during World War II and eventually oversaw more than 10,000 enlisted women and 1,000 commissioned officers. She earned the Legion of Merit before leaving the Coast Guard in 1946 and died in 2006.

The ship will be delivered next summer and patrol waters off northern California on two-month missions. It will be able to deploy two helicopters and smaller boats.

The CGC Stratton (WMSL 752) is the third of eight 418-foot, multi-mission NSCs scheduled to be built and named for a Coast Guard legend. The first two NSCs are named for former commandants Adm. Ellsworth P. Bertholf and Adm. Russell Waesche respectively. The fourth NSC is slated to be named for Founding Father and first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton.