The US Navy’s newest Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) USS Pierre has set sail for her home port of San Diego following her commissioning in Florida.
The trimaran vessel, the 19th and final Independence-variant littoral combat ship (LCS), was officially welcomed into service at Panama City on Saturday.
At the commissioning ceremony Secretary of the Navy John Phelan remarked: “The commissioning of USS Pierre marks an important moment for the fleet.
“President Trump is committed to restoring our shipbuilding capacity, because he knows that to be a superpower, one must be a sea power.”
The warship is built to a modular design which can be reconfigured for various roles by changing the embarked mission “packages”, each of which includes module equipment such as weapon systems, and sensors, embarked craft and dedicated mission crews.
The U.S. Navy ordered 35 LCS vessels; 19 of them built to the Independence-class design by Austal USA, and 16 more conventional Freedom-class vessels designed by Lockheed Martin and built by Fincantieri subsidiary Marinette Marine.
The 127-metre Independence-class Austal-built vessels are capable of 44 knots and have a 4,300nm range; they have a flight deck for an embarked MH-60R Seahawk helicopter and FireScout uncrewed aerial system (UAS).
LCS vessels are fast, lean-crewed, mission-tailored surface combatants that operate in near-shore and open-ocean environments. They are designed to integrate with joint, combined, crewed, and uncrewed teams to support global forward presence, maritime security, sea control, and deterrence missions.
- You can read more details about the LCS ships on the U.S. Navy website