US Navy to Commission Littoral Combat Ship Cincinnati

The US Navy will commission its new Independence-variant littoral combat ship (LCS), the future USS Cincinnati (LCS 20) on October 5, Saturday.

“The Navy will commission its newest Independence-variant littoral combat ship, the future USS Cincinnati (LCS 20), during a 10 a.m. CDT ceremony Saturday, Oct. 5, on west pier in Gulfport, Mississippi,” the US Department of defense said in a statement Wednesday.

LCS is a modular, reconfigurable ship, designed to meet validated fleet requirements for surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare and mine countermeasures missions in the littoral region. An interchangeable mission package is embarked on each LCS and provides the primary mission systems in one of these warfare areas. Using an open architecture design, modular weapons, sensor systems and a variety of manned and unmanned vehicles to gain, sustain and exploit littoral maritime supremacy, LCS provides U.S. joint force access to critical areas in multiple theaters.

The LCS class consists of two variants, the Freedom variant and the Independence variant, designed and built by two industry teams. The Freedom-variant team is led by Lockheed Martin (for the odd-numbered hulls). The Independence-variant team is led by Austal USA (for LCS 6 and the subsequent even-numbered hulls).