USS Milwaukee was delivered on 16 October 2015 and commissioned in November 2015. The keels for LCS-5 (USS Milwaukee) and LCS-7 (USS Detroit) were laid in October 2011 and November 2012 respectively. She was delivered in June 2012 and commissioned in August 2012. Her keel was laid on 11 July 2009, she was launched in December 2010 and completed sea trials in October 2011. In March 2009, LCS-3 was announced as USS Fort Worth. In the Defense Department budget in April 2009, defence secretary Robert Gates guaranteed the US Navy’s commitment to the LCS programme. In April 2007, the USN terminated the contract for LCS-3. The USN asked to review the programme because of concerns over cost increases incurred in the construction of USS Freedom. However, in January 2007, the USN ordered Lockheed Martin to stop work on LCS-3. The contract was awarded in June 2006 and the vessel was scheduled to start construction in early 2007. Lockheed Martin was planing to build USS Fort Worth (LCS-3), initially named USS Courage, and commission it in 2009. On 16 February 2010, the USS Freedom left the Naval Station Mayport for its maiden deployment, two years ahead of schedule. The LCS was delivered to the USN in September 2008 and was commissioned on 8 November 2008. It was launched in September 2006.īuilder’s sea trials began in July 2008. The keel for USS Freedom (LCS-1) was laid in June 2005 at the Marinette Marine shipyard in Wisconsin. Lockheed Martin received a contract for the first Freedom-class ship, LCS-1, in December 2004. Lockheed Martin proposed the Freedom-class of littoral combat ship based on a semi-planing mono-hull design. USS Freedom (LCS-1) is the first in the Lockheed Martin Freedom-class of littoral combat ships. “The littoral combat ship (LCS) is the first of a new family of surface ships for the US Navy.” The Lockheed Martin design of the mono-hull lifts the body of the hull.
In both designs, the sprint speed ranging between 40k and 50k results in the body of the hull being lifted out of the water as much as possible. The design approach for the second-generation LCS, flight 1, ship acquisition is flexible and will take into consideration the experience gained in the flight 0 designs. The two designs use very different approaches for incorporating reconfigurable internal volume. However, the strategy for launch and recovery for waterborne craft and aircraft are different for each design. Both of them can effectively launch, control and recover vehicles for extended periods. The sea frames of both designs accommodate the equipment and crew for core LCS missions and special missions. The General Dynamics Independence-class design is a trimaran with a slender stabilised mono-hull. The Lockheed Martin Freedom-class design is a high-speed, semi-planing mono-hull. They achieve sprint speeds of over 40k and long-range transit distances of more than 3,500 miles. The two designs are quite different, although both satisfy the top-level performance requirements and technical requirements of the LCS programme. The Lockheed Martin-led team was awarded a contract The number of LCS ships is not finalised but speculated to be up to 60, within a total US naval fleet of 375 ships.Īustal secured a A$1.6bn ($1.16bn) contract to build LCS ships 32 and 34 in September 2018, followed by a contract for two additional ships, LCS 36 and 38, in December 2018.