Lockheed Martin Lays The Keel On Ninth Littoral Combat Ship

Lockheed Martin team laid the keel for the U.S. Navy's ninth Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), the future USS Little Rock, in an official ceremony recently held at Marinette Marine Corporation.

The team has delivered two ships with four others under construction and two in the early material procurement stages to the U.S. Navy till date.

With the nation's first LCS, USS Freedom, currently on its maiden deployment to Southeast Asia, the Lockheed Martin is addressing the U.S. Navy's need for an affordable, highly-networked and modular ship unlike any other in the world, designed to conduct a variety of missions including anti-surface, mine and submarine warfare.

The Lockheed Martin-led LCS team includes ship builder Marinette Marine Corporation, a Fincantieri company, naval architect Gibbs and Cox, as well as nearly 900 suppliers in 43 states, including approximately 30 small businesses in Wisconsin and Michigan.

"This is a great milestone for the U.S. Navy's future USS Little Rock and for the program as we continue to deliver ships," said Joe North, vice president of Littoral Ship Systems at Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training.

"As we transition into serial production, we're applying lessons-learned to the construction process that our team has learned from supporting the U.S. Navy in maintaining the team's first and second ships," North added.

Lay the keel is a shipbuilding term that marks the beginning of the module erection process, which is a significant undertaking that signifies the ship coming to life.

Modern warships are now largely built in a series of pre-fabricated, complete hull sections rather than a single keel, so the actual start of the shipbuilding process is now considered to be when the first sheet of steel is cut and is often marked with a ceremonial event.