US Navy to commission Freedom-class littoral combat ship Wichita (LCS 13)

The US Navy is set to commission littoral combat ship, Wichita (LCS 13), in a ceremony at Naval Station Mayport, Florida, this weekend.

Wichita is the US Navy’s seventh Freedom-variant littoral combat ship and was delivered to the US Navy together with USS Sioux City (LCS 11) in August 2018.

Sioux City entered service in November last year.

The future USS Wichita is entering service after being launched in September 2016 and will be the third US Navy ship to bear the name.

Wichita will also be the first East Coast Mine Warfare Division ship and will be used to test mine warfare systems.

The LCS-class consists of the Freedom variant and Independence variant, designed and built by two industry teams. The Freedom variant team is led by Lockheed Martin (for the odd-numbered ships, e.g. LCS 1). The Independence variant team is led by Austal USA (for LCS 6 and follow-on even-numbered ships).