The U.S. Navy ship USS Black Hawk will arrive in Natchez Wednesday for public tours.

Natchez is one of three stops in Mississippi on the ship’s Mississippi River cruise.

The USS Black Hawk is the eighth ship in the U.S. Navy’s MHC 51 Class Coastal Mine Hunter Program and the third U.S. Navy ship to bear the name. MHC&160;51 class ships are the world’s largest glass reinforced plastic ships and the first U.S. Navy ships designed solely for mine hunting.

Black Hawk has a crew of five officers and 46 enlisted sailors and is home ported in Ingleside, Texas.

Also, sailors from the ship will help perform two community service projects and attend the Natchez Little Theater’s production of &uot;South Pacific.&uot; The sailors will help plant and clean up downtown for the Natchez Downtown Development Association’s &uot;Clean N’ Green&uot; project and will assist in a variety of tasks at the Natchez&160;Children’s Home. The sailors will also eat dinner with the children at the children’s home.

The schedule for the ship’s Natchez visit includes:

— Wednesday — Black Hawk arrives

— Thursday — 9 to 11 a.m., special group tours; 1 to 5 p.m., general public tours; 1:30 to 2 p.m., welcoming ceremony.

— Friday: 9 to 11 a.m., special group tours; noon to 1 p.m., Big Easy Navy band performance at Memorial Park; 1 to 5 p.m., general public tours; 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., Big Easy Navy band performance at Memorial Park.