Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) 19, the future USS St. Louis, completed Acceptance Trials in Lake Michigan. Now that trials are complete, the ship will undergo final outfitting and fine-tuning before delivery. USS St. Louis (LCS-19) is the tenth Freedom-variant LCS designed and built by the Lockheed Martin-led industry team and is slated for delivery to the Navy early next year.
«The LCS fleet is growing in numbers and capability, and LCS-19’s completion of acceptance trials means the Navy will shortly have 10 Freedom-variant fast, focused-mission ships in the fleet», said Joe DePietro, Lockheed Martin vice president and general manager, Small Combatants and Ship Systems. «As each Freedom-variant hull deploys, we seek out and incorporate fleet feedback and lessons learned to roll in capabilities for new hulls. As a result, LCS-19 includes a solid-state radar, upgraded communications suite, increased self-defense capabilities and topside optimization, among other updates».
In total, there are more than 500,000 nautical miles/575,390 miles/926,000 km under the keel of Freedom-variant LCS. The Freedom-variant LCS has completed three successful deployments with a fourth ongoing. In October, LCS-7 (USS Detroit) deployed to the U.S. Southern Command supporting the Martillo campaign – a multinational effort targeting illicit trafficking routes in Central American coastal waters.
LCS is designed to deliver speed to capability and to grow as the missions it serves evolve. Today, the Freedom-variant LCS delivers advanced capability in anti-submarine, surface and mine countermeasure missions. The Freedom-variant LCS is targeted for warfighting upgrades to enhance situational awareness and evolve the ship’s self-defense capabilities. These upgrades are already underway – LCS computing infrastructures are receiving cyber upgrades and over-the-horizon missiles are being installed in support of upcoming deployments.
Unique among combat ships, the focused-mission LCS is designed to support mine countermeasures, anti-submarine and surface warfare missions and is easily adapted to serve future and evolving missions. The Freedom-variant LCS is:
- Flexible – Forty percent of the hull is easily reconfigurable, able to integrate Longbow Hellfire Missiles, 30-mm guns, and manned and unmanned vehicles designed to meet today’s and tomorrow’s missions.
- Lethal – LCS is standard equipped with Rolling Airframe Missiles (RAM) and a Mark 110 gun, capable of firing 220 rounds per minute.
- Fast – LCS is capable of speeds in excess of 40 knots/46 mph/74 km/h.
- Automated – LCS has the most efficient staffing of any combat ship.
«Progress on the Freedom-variant program and LCS-19’s achievement would not be possible without the expertise and effort of our shipbuilders at Fincantieri Marinette Marine, and our strong partnership with Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Navy», said Jan Allman, Fincantieri Marinette Marine president and CEO. «We are dedicated to delivering an effective, capable product to our armed forces».
Ship Design Specifications
| Hull | Advanced semiplaning steel monohull |
| Length Overall | 389 feet/118.6 m |
| Beam Overall | 57 feet/17.5 m |
| Draft | 13.5 feet/4.1 m |
| Full Load Displacement | Approximately 3,200 metric tons |
| Top Speed | Greater than 40 knots/46 mph/74 km/h |
| Range at top speed | 1,000 NM/1,151 miles/1,852 km |
| Range at cruise speed | 4,000 NM/4,603 miles/7,408 km |
| Watercraft Launch and Recovery | Up to Sea State 4 |
| Aircraft Launch and Recovery | Up to Sea State 5 |
| Propulsion | Combined diesel and gas turbine with steerable water jet propulsion |
| Power | 85 MW/113,600 horsepower |
| Hangar Space | Two MH-60 Romeo Helicopters |
| One MH-60 Romeo Helicopter and three Vertical Take-off and Land Tactical Unmanned Air Vehicles (VTUAVs) | |
| Core Crew | Less than 50 |
| Accommodations for 75 sailors provide higher sailor quality of life than current fleet | |
| Integrated Bridge System | Fully digital nautical charts are interfaced to ship sensors to support safe ship operation |
| Core Self-Defense Suite | Includes 3D air search radar |
| Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR) gunfire control system | |
| Rolling-Airframe Missile Launching System | |
| 57-mm Main Gun | |
| Mine, Torpedo Detection | |
| Decoy Launching System |
Freedom-class
| Ship | Laid down | Launched | Commissioned | Homeport |
| USS Freedom (LCS-1) | 06-02-2005 | 09-23-2006 | 11-08-2008 | San Diego, California |
| USS Fort Worth (LCS-3) | 07-11-2009 | 12-07-2010 | 09-22-2012 | San Diego, California |
| USS Milwaukee (LCS-5) | 10-27-2011 | 12-18-2013 | 11-21-2015 | San Diego, California |
| USS Detroit (LCS-7) | 08-11-2012 | 10-18-2014 | 10-22-2016 | San Diego, California |
| USS Little Rock (LCS-9) | 06-27-2013 | 07-18-2015 | 12-16-2017 | San Diego, California |
| USS Sioux City (LCS-11) | 02-19-2014 | 01-30-2016 | 11-17-2018 | Mayport, Florida |
| USS Wichita (LCS-13) | 02-09-2015 | 09-17-2016 | 01-12-2019 | Mayport, Florida |
| USS Billings (LCS-15) | 11-02-2015 | 07-01-2017 | 08-03-2019 | Mayport, Florida |
| USS Indianapolis (LCS-17) | 07-18-2016 | 04-18-2018 | 10-26-2019 | Mayport, Florida |
| USS St. Louis (LCS-19) | 05-17-2017 | 12-15-2018 | ||
| USS Minneapolis/St. Paul (LCS-21) | 02-22-2018 | 06-15-2019 | ||
| USS Cooperstown (LCS-23) | 08-14-2018 | |||
| USS Marinette (LCS-25) | 03-27-2019 | |||
| USS Nantucket (LCS-27) | 10-09-2019 | |||
| USS Beloit (LCS-29) | ||||
| USS Cleveland (LCS-31) |
LCS 19 Acceptance Trials B-roll Package from Team Freedom on Vimeo.