The US Navy has commissioned into service the antepenultimate Freedom-class variant of the twin-design Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) programme, with the USS Nantucket formally joining the fleet at a ceremony in Boston, Massachusetts, on 16 November.
The USS Nantucket is the 14th Freedom-variant LCS commissioned in the US Navy and was built by Lockheed Martin and Fincantieri Marinette Marine in Marinette, Wisconsin. According to the US Department of Defense the vessel completed acceptance trials in 2022, before being delivered to the US Navy in July this year.
The USS Nantucket will be homeported at Naval Station Mayport, Florida.
The US DoD states the LCS vessels are fast, agile, mission-focused platform designed for operation in near-shore environments but are also “capable” of open-ocean operation. The class is intended to combat asymmetric "anti-access" threats such as mines, diesel-electric submarines, and fast surface craft.
However, the vessels have been plagued by a range of issues, to an extent that the US Navy has sought to decommissioned hulls decades ahead of schedule and develop the Constellation-class FFG to add much-needed combat capability to the service’s battleline.
The final Freedom-class LCS, the future USS Cleveland (LCS 31), was provided its ship’s crest earlier in 2024, with the penultimate vessel, the USS Beloit (LCS 29), undergoing outfitting at Fincantieri Marinette Marine, with construction first starting in 2020.
In July 2024, the US Naval Sea Systems Command stated that the USS Beloit was due to be delivered to the US Navy “in the summer” the same year.
US Navy only wants 10 Freedom-class hulls
The procurement of the Littoral Combat Ship programme was planned to see the introduction of 52 vessels split evenly between the two variants, but this was continuously scaled back.
The US Navy’s March 2024 shipbuilding plan presented to Congress stating the proposed budget for 2025 “resets the LCS programme to maintain ten Freedom-class LCS dedicated to the [surface-warfare] mission” and “reduces the Navy’s requirement to 15 Independence-class LCSs dedicated to the MCM mission”.
The LCS class consists of two variants, Freedom and Independence, designed and built by two separate industry teams. The first four LCS, two each of the Freedom and Independence variants, were introduced into service effectively as trial ships, intended to test the platforms and operational concepts ahead of future builds.
An early end awaits?
A number of Freedom variant LCS’ have been decommissioned from US Navy service after just a handful of operational years, such as the USS Sioux City (less than five years), USS Little Rock (less than six years), and USS Detroit (less than seven years), from an expected service life of 25 years.
In an August 2023 contract notice it was revealed that the USS Wichita (LCS 13) would undergo a diesel engine replacement programme, just four years after it entered service.
The US Navy’s 2022 action plan proposed that USS Wichita would be one of nine Freedom-class LCS to be decommissioned in 2023, alongside USS Forth Worth, USS Milwaukee, USS Detroit, USS Little Rock, USS Sioux City, USS Billings, USS Indianapolis, and USS St Louis.
One of two original Freedom variants, USS Fort Worth, was proposed to be dismantled in 2026 after 16 years in service, with the vessel single-crewed and not part of the deployable fleet.
The loss of Fort Worth will leave ten operational Freedom-class LCS, in line with the US Navy’s 2024 shipbuilding plan.
