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Home» News»Littoral Combat Ship USS Charleston (LCS 18) Commissioned Into the U.S. Navy
Littoral Combat Ship USS Charleston (LCS 18) Commissioned Into the U.S. Navy 1
The crew of the U.S. Navy's newest littoral combat ship, USS Charleston (LCS 18), mans the rails and brings the ship to life during the ship’s commissioning ceremony. (U.S. Navy/MC2 Natalia Murillo)

Littoral Combat Ship USS Charleston (LCS 18) Commissioned Into the U.S. Navy

The littoral combat ship USS Charleston (LCS 18) was commissioned into the U.S. Navy during a ceremony in Charleston, South Carolina, March 2. USS Charleston is the 16th littoral combat ship to enter the U.S. Navy fleet and the 9th of the Austal-built Independence-class.

Xavier Vavasseur 03 Mar 2019

After the ceremony, the ship will transit to join Littoral Combat Ship Squadron 1 and ten other littoral combat ships currently homeported at Naval Base San Diego.

“I will bring up all four engines online, come to full power, and steam right at you with that gun blazing and my eventual missiles launching. Charleston will not turn and run. We will not run because while we breathe, we fight!”

Cmdr. Christopher K. Busca, USS Charleston’s commanding officer

Littoral combat ships are high speed, agile, shallow draft, mission-focused surface combatants designed for operations in the littoral environment, yet fully capable of open ocean operations. As part of the surface fleet, littoral combat ships have the ability to counter and outpace evolving threats independently or within a network of surface combatants. Paired with advanced sonar and mine hunting capabilities, the littoral combat ships provide a major contribution, as well as a more diverse set of options to commanders, across the spectrum of operations.

Littoral Combat Ship USS Charleston (LCS 18) Commissioned Into the U.S. Navy 2
USS Charleston (LCS 18) during sea trials. US Navy picture.

The LCS class consists of two variants, the Freedom variant and the Independence variant, designed and built by two industry teams. The Independence variant team is led by Austal USA, Mobile, Alabama, (for LCS 6 and the subsequent even-numbered hulls). The Freedom variant team is led by Lockheed Martin, Marinette, Wisconsin, (for the odd-numbered hulls).

USS Tulsa will join USS Freedom (LCS 1), USS Independence (LCS 2), USS Fort Worth (LCS 3), USS Coronado (LCS 4), USS Jackson (LCS 6), USS Montgomery (LCS 8), USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10), USS Omaha (LCS 12), USS Manchester (LCS 14) and USS Tulsa (LCS 16) in their homeports of San Diego.

LCS Littoral Combat Ship US Navy USS Charleston 2019-03-03
Tags LCS Littoral Combat Ship US Navy USS Charleston
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Authors

Posted by : Xavier Vavasseur
Xavier is based in Paris, France. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems and a Master of Business Administration from Florida Institute of Technology (FIT). Xavier has been covering naval defense topics for nearly a decade.

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