The ceremony for inducting the littoral combat ship will be held on Saturday.
The United States Navy is getting ready to induct the last Freedom-class littoral combat ship this week. The combat ship USS Cleveland (LCS 31) has arrived in Cleveland, Ohio, to get ready for its service life.
The new platform is the 16th and the final ship in the Freedom series. The ceremony for inducting the littoral combat ship will be held on Saturday, May 16.
After the ceremony, the combat ship will be deployed at Mayport in Florida, where it will support forward presence, maritime security, sea control, and deterrence in key operational theaters, according to an earlier release from the US Navy.
US Navy’s new littoral combat ship
A Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) is a fast, agile, and modular surface vessel of the US Navy that is designed for near-shore operations and shallow waters, although it also retains open-ocean capabilities.
There are primarily two distinct designs for the LCS vessels, the steel monohull Freedom-class and the aluminum trimaran Independence-class.
The Freedom-class USS Cleveland in particular has a length of 378 feet (115 meters), and a full load displacement of roughly 3,858 tons (3,500 metric tons). It is built with a steel and aluminum superstructure, and can carry over 100 personnel.
The vessel can sail at speeds of over 40 knots (46 miles/74 kilometers per hour) and a range of 3,500 nautical miles (4,028 miles/6,482 kilometers).
Built for patrolling to secure the coastline, anti-piracy, and special operation missions, the vessel has electronic warfare and decoy systems. It will also have a 57-millimeter automatic naval gun, 12.7-millimeter machine guns, 30-millimeter chain guns, Rolling Airframe surface-to-air missiles, Hellfire anti-armor missiles, and a high-energy laser weapon to counter drones and other threats.
The vessel’s deck can also host an SH-60 Seahawk helicopter and two large vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) drones to support airborne Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions.
Fourth ship in US Navy’s history with the Cleveland name
As per the US Navy’s history, it will be the fourth naval vessel to carry the Cleveland name.
The history begins with the Denver-class protected cruiser, USS Cleveland (C-19), later reclassified as CL-21, commissioned in 1903. It served during World War 1 and was decommissioned in 1929.
The second USS Cleveland was a Cleveland-class light cruiser that entered service in 1942 and was a witness to the action in World War II’s Pacific theater.
USS Cleveland (LPD-7), an Austin-class amphibious transport dock, was third in the line, which was commissioned in 1967 and contributed to the US Navy through participation in missions such as Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The newest vessel to carry forward the Cleveland legacy is “designed to operate in near-shore environments to counter 21st-century threats,” according to an earlier press release by the US Navy. The vessel can operate independently or in high-threat scenarios as part of a networked battle force that includes larger, multi-mission surface combatants such as cruisers and destroyers.
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Abhishek brings a wealth of experience in covering diverse stories across different beats. Having contributed to renowned wire agencies and Indian media outlets like ANI and NDTV, he is keenly interested in Tech, Business and Defense coverage.