Construction begins on the USS Nantucket

Shipbuilder Fincantieri Marinette Marine and Lockheed Martin recently held a ceremony in Marinette, Wis., to commemorate the start of construction for Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) 27, the future USS Nantucket.

“LCS’ built-in flexibility makes it unlike any other Navy ship in the water today,” Joe DePietro, vice president and general manager of Small Combatants and Ship Systems, said. “LCS can serve a multitude of missions to include surface, antisubmarine and mine countermeasure missions by quickly integrating mission equipment and deploying manned and unmanned aerial, surface or sub-surface vehicles.”

LCS 27 will be the Navy’s 14th Freedom-variant LCS. It will be the first Navy ship to be named after Nantucket, Mass., since 1862.

LCS are designed to support surface warfare, antisubmarine and mine countermeasures missions and can be easily adapted for future missions.

The Freedom-variant LCS is capable of speeds over 40 knots and is equipped with a Mark 110 gun capable of firing 220 rounds per minute and standard Rolling Airframe Missiles. Forty percent of the hull is reconfigurable to integrate manned and unmanned vehicles, 30 mm guns, and Longbow Hellfire Missiles.

Six ships are currently in various stages of construction in Marinette, one of the Fincantieri Marine Group’s three Great Lakes shipyards.