The Navy accepted delivery of the future USS Indianapolis (LCS-17) during a ceremony at the Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM) shipyard in Marinette, Wisconsin, on July 26.
The future USS Indianapolis (LCS-17) is the 9th Freedom-variant Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) designed and built by the Lockheed Martin-led industry team at Fincantieri Marinette Marine in Marinette. Delivery marks the official transfer of the ship from the shipbuilder to the Navy. It is the final milestone prior to commissioning, which is planned for October 26 in Burns Harbor, Indiana. Indianapolis’s homeport will be Naval Station Mayport, Florida.
«This is a tremendous day for the Navy and our nation with the delivery of the future USS Indianapolis, which will carry into her future an important naval legacy», said LCS Program Manager Captain Mike Taylor. «I look forward to celebrating the commissioning of this great ship alongside the crew later this year. This ship will play an essential role in in carrying out our nation’s maritime strategy».
Honoring the capital and largest city in Indiana, LCS-17 it will be the fourth ship named Indianapolis in naval service. The first was a cargo ship (ID-3865) commissioned in 1918. The second was a Portland-class heavy cruiser (CA-35) that earned 10 battle stars for distinguished World War II service operating from Pearl Harbor and throughout the Pacific escorting convoys and attacking enemy submarines. Its service ended when the ship was sunk by a Japanese torpedo minutes after midnight July 30, 1945. Only 317 of the 1,196 sailors serving aboard the ship survived after five days afloat in the Pacific. The third USS Indianapolis was a Los Angeles-class attack submarine (SSN-697), decommissioned in 1998.
The future USS Indianapolis (LCS-17) was christened on April 18, 2018. Sister ships the future USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul (LCS-21) was christened on June 15 and the future USS Billings (LCS-15) is being commissioned on August 3. The future USS St. Louis (LCS-19), USS Cooperstown (LCS-23), USS Marinette (LCS-25), USS Nantucket (LCS-27), USS Beloit (LCS-29) and USS Cleveland (LCS-31) are all in varying stages of construction at FMM.
LCS is a fast, agile, mission-focused platform designed to operate in near-shore environments, while capable of open-ocean tasking and winning against 21st-century coastal threats such as submarines, mines and swarming small craft. They are capable of supporting forward presence, maritime security, sea control and deterrence.
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 | Mayport, Florida | |
| USS Indianapolis (LCS-17) | 07-18-2016 | 04-18-2018 | Mayport, Florida | |
| USS St. Louis (LCS-19) | 05-17-2017 | 12-15-2018 | ||
| USS Minneapolis/St. Paul (LCS-21) | 02-22-2018 | |||
| USS Cooperstown (LCS-23) | 08-14-2018 | |||
| USS Marinette (LCS-25) | 03-27-2019 | |||
| USS Nantucket (LCS-27) | ||||
| USS Beloit (LCS-29) | ||||
| USS Cleveland (LCS-31) |