Austal hands over LCS USS Kingsville to US Navy

The US Navy accepted delivery of the future USS Kingsville (LCS 36) at Austal USA’s shipyard in Mobile, Alabama on March 1.

Kingsville is the 18th Independence-variant Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) constructed, and is the first ship ever named after Kingsville, Texas.

can operate in both near-shore and open-ocean waters to counter 21st-century coastal threats.

Kingsville successfully completed Acceptance Trials on February 1, marking the last significant milestone before a ship is delivered to the Navy. She will be commissioned later this summer, and will be homeported in San Diego, California.

“The performance of Kingsville during this trial demonstrates a continuation of the standard of excellence in the LCS class as a whole. We are thrilled by the quality of the ship and the performance of our partners at Austal,” said Jonas Brown, deputy program manager of the LCS (PMS 501) program office, who was aboard LCS 36 throughout the trial events.

Following Kingsville, the future USS Pierre (LCS 38) is the last Independence-variant LCS still under construction at Austal USA, as the LCS production line approaches its planned closure.

The LCS class consists of two variants, Freedom and Independence, designed and built by two separate industry teams. The trimaran-hulled Independence-variant team is led by Austal USA (for the even-numbered ships). The monohull Freedom variant is built by a team led by Lockheed Martin (for the odd-numbered ships).