Home Americas US Navy’s 19th littoral combat ship completes acceptance trials

US Navy’s 19th littoral combat ship completes acceptance trials

LCS 9 Lockheed Martin
Future USS St. Louis underway in Lake Michigan. Photo: Lockheed Martin

Future USS St. Louis, the US Navy’s 19th littoral combat ship, has completed acceptance trials in Lake Michigan.

The ship now has to undergo final outfitting and fine-tuning before delivery.

As the tenth Freedom-variant LCS designed and built by the Lockheed Martin-led industry team, LCS 19 is slated for delivery to the navy early next year.

The Independence-variant of the LCS, featuring a trimaran hull, is being delivered by Austal USA.

“As each Freedom-variant hull deploys, we seek out and incorporate fleet feedback and lessons learned to roll in capabilities for new hulls,” said Joe DePietro, Lockheed Martin vice president and general manager, Small Combatants and Ship Systems.

“As a result, LCS 19 includes a solid-state radar, upgraded communications suite, increased self-defense capabilities and topside optimization, among other updates.”

The Freedom-variant ships have so far completed three successful deployments with a fourth ongoing. In October, LCS 7 (USS Detroit) deployed to the US Southern Command supporting the Martillo campaign – a multinational effort targeting illicit trafficking routes in Central American coastal waters.