Key Points and Summary - The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program is presented as a deeply flawed naval experiment. The decision to build two competing designs, the Freedom and Independence classes, ...

The U.S. Navy is retiring every active Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) it has… while simultaneously finishing six brand-new ships of the same class. On the surface, that sounds like déjà vu ...

The oft-maligned Littoral Combat Ship, or LCS, may have found its true calling: chasing down smugglers. USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul, a Freedom-variant LCS, recently stopped two suspected drug smuggling ...

Distinguished guests watch the crew aboard the Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Pierre in Panama City. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Navy) The Navy on Saturday commissioned the last of the ...

The Independence-variant littoral combat ship Savannah conducts routine underway operations in the South China Sea, Dec. 6, 2024. (Naval Air Crewman Second Class John Rabbat/Navy) Shipbuilder Austal ...

After twenty years and billions of dollars, littoral combat ships are finally performing mine countermeasures as originally planned. By Kyle Gunn Published Sep 9, 2025 3:20 PM EDT After more than two ...

What You Need to Know: The U.S. Navy recently accepted the USS Beloit, a Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) built by Lockheed Martin. -The USS Beloit is the 29th LCS to join the Navy, designed ...

Designed to serve the Navy as a cheaper member of the DD(X) family of ships, the LCS class was initially meant to fulfill the requirement for small, fast, and maneuverable vessels. Under the LCS ...

The newest ship in the Navy, the USS Pierre, was commissioned Saturday in Panama City, Fla.: “Welcome to the fleet,” said Navy Secretary John Phelan, who gave the keynote address. Pierre is the 19th ...

Last week on Time’s Battleland blog there was a piece by Mr. John Sayen entitled The Navy’s New Class of Warships: Big Bucks, Little Bang. Obviously, Mr. Sayen is not a fan of the Littoral Combat Ship ...