Austal USA has launched the last Independence-class littoral combat ship.

The company’s press service reported on this.

The ship, named the USS Pierre (LCS 38), will enter sea trials this year and then join the U.S. Navy.

The USS Pierre, christened in May, will be deployed to the Pacific Fleet area of responsibility.

The first three members of this class, the USS Canberra, USS Santa Barbara, and USS Augusta, were launched in 2023, and the penultimate, USS Kingsville, in 2024.

Independence-class littoral combat ship

The Independence class is a class of littoral combat ships designed by the Australian company Austal under the LCS (Littoral Combat Ship) program.

The first four ships of the LCS program are test platforms that were quickly withdrawn from the fleet due to a large number of problems.

The Independence-class flagship, which was commissioned in 2010, was decommissioned on July 29, 2021. The second vessel, named Coronado, served for only 8 years and was decommissioned on September 14, 2022.

The same fate awaits the first two Lockheed Martin Freedom-class vessels. In addition, some ships are planned to be sold.

Independence-class ships have a length of 127.2 meters, a beam of 30.4 meters, a draft of 4.5 meters, and a total displacement of 3104 tons.

A speed of 44 knots is provided by two General Electric LM2500 gas turbines or two MTU Friedrichshafen 20V diesel engines.

The range does not exceed 4300 nautical miles, the crew consists of 40 people, and another 35 can be on duty.

The main armament is a BAE Systems Mk 110 57 mm gun, RGM-184A Naval Strike Missiles, AGM-114L Hellfire missiles (SUW vertical launch module).

Air defense is provided by RIM-116 missiles.