Austal Limited is pleased to announce that Austal USA has delivered its 11th Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) to the U.S. Navy at the company’s shipyard in Mobile, Alabama.
The future USS Kansas City (LCS-22) is the first Independence-class LCS to be delivered by Austal USA in 2020.
Austal Chief Executive Officer David Singleton said the latest LCS delivery from Austal’s USA shipyard builds upon the company’s strong record in recent years.
«Austal USA’s delivery of the Independence-class LCS program continues to impress, with quality, cost and productivity improvements being achieved with each new vessel. We have now delivered 11 of the 19 Independence-class LCS currently contracted and it’s very pleasing to see more and more of these ships deployed around the world, adding great capability to the U.S. Navy», Mr. Singleton said.
Upgrades to the LCS program continue to take shape, both in production and post-delivery. Austal USA and General Dynamics Mission Systems teams recently integrated a new over-the-horizon missile system onto the USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10) prior to her deployment. USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10) and her sister ship, USS Montgomery (LCS-8), are currently deployed and meeting U.S. Navy operational requirements in South East Asia.
Five Independence-class Littoral Combat Ships (small surface combatants) are under various stages of construction at Austal USA including the future USS Oakland (LCS-24) and USS Mobile (LCS-26) that are preparing for sea trials. Assembly is underway on the future USS Savannah (LCS-28) and USS Canberra (LCS-30), and modules for the future USS Santa Barbara (LCS-32) are under construction in Austal’s Module Manufacturing Facility (MMF). Three more LCS are under contract and scheduled for production, through to the USS Pierre (LCS-38).
The Independence-class LCS is a fast, agile, focused-mission platform designed for operation in near-shore environments yet capable of open-ocean operation.
The 421 feet/128.3 m trimaran is designed to defeat asymmetric «anti-access» threats such as mines, quiet diesel submarines and fast surface craft. The ship successfully integrates new technology and capability to support current and future U.S. Navy mission capability in any operating environment.
Austal USA is also under contract to build 14 Expeditionary Fast Transport vessels (EPF) for the U.S. Navy. The company has delivered 11 EPFs, while an additional two are in various stages of construction at the Mobile, Alabama shipyard.
The Independence Variant of the LCS
| PRINCIPAL DIMENSIONS | |
| Construction | Hull and superstructure – aluminium alloy |
| Length overall | 421 feet/128.3 m |
| Beam overall | 103 feet/31.4 m |
| Hull draft (maximum) | 14.8 feet/4.5 m |
| PAYLOAD AND CAPACITIES | |
| Complement | Core Crew – 40 |
| Mission crew – 36 | |
| Berthing | 76 in a mix of single, double & quad berthing compartments |
| Maximum mission load | 210 tonnes |
| Mission Bay Volume | 118,403 feet3/11,000 m3 |
| Mission packages | Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) |
| Surface Warfare (SUW) | |
| Mine Warfare (MIW) | |
| PROPULSION | |
| Main engines | 2 × GE LM2500 |
| 2 × MTU 20V 8000 | |
| Waterjets | 4 × Wartsila steerable |
| Bow thruster | Retractable azimuthing |
| PERFORMANCE | |
| Speed | 40 knots/46 mph/74 km/h |
| Range | 3,500 NM/4,028 miles/6,482 km |
| Operational limitation | Survival in Sea State 8 |
| MISSION/LOGISTICS DECK | |
| Deck area | >21,527.8 feet2/2,000 m2 |
| Launch and recovery | Twin boom extending crane |
| Loading | Side ramp |
| Internal elevator to hanger | |
| Launch/Recover Watercraft | Sea State 4 |
| FLIGHT DECK AND HANGER | |
| Flight deck dimensions | 2 × SH-60 or 1 × CH-53 or multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles/Vertical Take-off and Land Tactical Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs/VTUAVs) |
| Hanger | Aircraft stowage & maintenance for 2 × SH-60 |
| Launch/Recover Aircraft | Sea State 5 |
| WEAPONS AND SENSORS | |
| Standard | 1 × 57-mm gun |
| 4 × 12.7-mm/.50 caliber guns | |
| 1 × Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) launcher | |
| 3 × weapons modules | |
Independence-class
| Ship | Laid down | Launched | Commissioned | Homeport |
| USS Independence (LCS-2) | 01-19-2006 | 04-26-2008 | 01-16-2010 | San Diego, California |
| USS Coronado (LCS-4) | 12-17-2009 | 01-14-2012 | 04-05-2014 | San Diego, California |
| USS Jackson (LCS-6) | 08-01-2011 | 12-14-2013 | 12-05-2015 | San Diego, California |
| USS Montgomery (LCS-8) | 06-25-2013 | 08-06-2014 | 09-10-2016 | San Diego, California |
| USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10) | 04-16-2014 | 02-25-2015 | 06-10-2017 | San Diego, California |
| USS Omaha (LCS-12) | 02-18-2015 | 11-20-2015 | 02-03-2018 | San Diego, California |
| USS Manchester (LCS-14) | 06-29-2015 | 05-12-2016 | 05-26-2018 | San Diego, California |
| USS Tulsa (LCS-16) | 01-11-2016 | 03-16-2017 | 02-16-2019 | San Diego, California |
| USS Charleston (LCS-18) | 06-28-2016 | 09-14-2017 | 03-02-2019 | San Diego, California |
| USS Cincinnati (LCS-20) | 04-10-2017 | 05-22-2018 | 10-05-2019 | San Diego, California |
| USS Kansas City (LCS-22) | 11-15-2017 | 10-19-2018 | San Diego, California | |
| USS Oakland (LCS-24) | 07-20-2018 | 07-21-2019 | San Diego, California | |
| USS Mobile (LCS-26) | 12-14-2018 | |||
| USS Savannah (LCS-28) | 09-20-2018 | |||
| USS Canberra (LCS-30) | ||||
| USS Santa Barbara (LCS-32) | ||||
| USS Augusta (LCS-34) | ||||
| USS Kingsville (LCS-36) | ||||
| USS Pierre (LCS-38) |