The LCS is a new kind of USN warship. She is high speed (40 knots-60 knots) and very maneuverable. She is said to be able to turn 360 degrees in less than eight boat lengths at sprint speed.

Arguably, her most important feature is that she is a modular ship. That means she can be reconfigured to carry a variety of combat packages targeted for specific missions. She will be able to interdict ships on the high seas, conduct intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and provide anti-terrorism force protection, including employment of special operations forces. She will support launching and recovering small boats for use by such special forces. She can carry two SH-60 Seahawk helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles.

The LCS carries the nomenclature "littoral" for a reason. Littoral means the ship will operate close to shorelines, which means she can operate where larger warships cannot. She can more easily support insertion and extraction of small numbers of specialized combat forces.


crew consists of 40 Sailors made-up of eight officers, 15 chief petty officers, 15 first class petty officers and two second classes.


LCS-2, the USS Independence, is being built by General Dynamics's Bath Ironwoks in Mobile, Alabama. She has a completely different design. She uses an aluminum trimaran hull while the Freedom employs a steel semi-planing hull.

The plan has been that two of each design will be made, after which the Navy will decided how many of each to buy. We have seen a planning factor of 55 ships, but have also seen figures as high as 100.