Austal USA held a keel laying ceremony on Friday for the final trimaran-hull littoral fight ship that will probably be primarily based in San Diego.
The longer term USS Pierre, named for the capitol of South Dakota, would be the seventeenth energetic littoral fight ship on the West Coast when it’s accomplished, commissioned and arrives in San Diego.
South Dakota’s two U.S. Senators, John Thune and Mike Rounds, had been joined by Pierre Mayor Steve Harding on the ceremony in Cell, AL.
The trimaran-hull, Independence variant of the littoral class has confirmed profitable for the Navy in distinction to the trouble-plagued, monohull Freedom variants constructed by Marinette Marine and primarily based on the East Coast.
The warships are 418 ft in size, armed with weapons, missiles and helicopters, and may attain speeds of over 50 mph.
The USS Charleston simply accomplished a record-breaking 26-month deployment within the Pacific and Indian oceans with 5 crew rotations.
