US Navy Launching New Littoral Combat Ship ‘Little Rock’

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The US Navy’s newest littoral combat ship, the USS Little Rock is being launched on Saturday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US Navy’s newest littoral combat ship, the USS Little Rock is being launched on Saturday at the Marinette Marine Corporation's (MMC) shipyard in Marinette, Wisconsin, the Department of Defense said in a news release.

“The future USS Little Rock was laid down June 27, 2013,” the news release read on Friday. “At 3400-tons, it is 388 feet in length, has a beam of 57 feet, and can operate at more than 40 knots.”

The ship will be equipped to deploy aviation assets, manned and unmanned vehicles and sensors in support of mine countermeasures, anti-submarine warfare, or surface warfare missions, the Defense Department said.

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The vessel has been built by Lockheed Martin and MMC and is one of 13 Freedom-class littoral combat ships under contract to Lockheed, the National Defense magazine reported on its web site on Friday.

USS Little Rock is one of 32 littoral combat vessels with the same configuration, Joe North, vice president of littoral ships and systems at Lockheed Martin, told National Defense.

National Defense noted that the littoral combat ship class has been the subject of “harsh criticism throughout the [US] defense industry, with some claiming it is unsuitable for warfare and unsurvivable in combat.”

Some 20 ships of the class are still to be built, the magazine noted.

They “will be modified with an eye toward increased survivability and beefed up weapon system… [and] will be designated as frigates rather than littoral combat ships,” it said.

The USS Little Rock is scheduled to enter service in 2016, the Department of Defense said.

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