The US Navy’s future Independence-class littoral combat ship USS Cincinnati (LCS 20) concluded acceptance trials in the Gulf of Mexico on February 8, following a series of in-port and underway demonstrations for the Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey.
Acceptance trials are the last significant milestone before the ship is delivered to the navy, which is planned for this summer.
During trials, the navy conducted comprehensive tests of the Independence-variant littoral combat ship (LCS) to demonstrate the performance of the propulsion plant, ship-handling and auxiliary systems.
“I can’t say enough about the positive results achieved by the navy and industry team during these acceptance trials of the future USS Cincinnati,” said Capt. Mike Taylor, LCS program manager. “She’s well into her journey to be delivered to the navy this summer and will provide needed and cost-effective warfighting capability to the fleet and the nation.”
Following delivery and commissioning, Cincinnati will join her nine sister ships already homeported in San Diego, USS Independence (LCS 2), 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), the future USS Tulsa (LCS 16) and the future USS Charleston (LCS 18).
Four more Independence-variant ships are under construction at Austal USA in Mobile. Final assembly is well underway on the future USS Kansas City (LCS 22) and Oakland (LCS 24). Modules for the future USS Mobile (LCS 26) are under construction in the module manufacturing facility and construction on the future USS Savannah (LCS 28) commenced last summer. Additionally, Austal is preparing for construction of the future USS Canberra (LCS 30), Santa Barbara (LCS 32), Augusta (LCS 34), Kingsville (LCS 36) and Pierre (LCS 38).