Navy accepts delivery of USS Indianapolis littoral combat ship

July 29 (UPI) -- The U.S. Navy accepted delivery of its newest Freedom-class littoral combat ship, to be named the USS Indianapolis, in a ceremony in Marinette, Wis.

The delivery signifies the official transfer of the ship from Lockheed Martin and Fincantieri Marinette Marine to the Navy. The vessel is planned for commissioning on Oct. 26 in Burns Harbor, Ind. and will be homeported at Naval Station Mayport in Florida.

The ship completed its acceptance trials, the milestone prior to delivery, in June.

"This is a tremendous day for the Navy and our nation with the delivery of the future USS Indianapolis, which will carry into her future an important naval legacy," LCS Program Manager Capt. Mike Taylor said at the ceremony on Saturday. "I look forward to celebrating the commissioning of this great ship alongside the crew later this year. This ship will play an essential role in carrying out our nation's maritime strategy."

The new vessel is designed to complete close-to-shore, as well as ocean-going, missions.

LCS vessels can be modified to carry an assortment of missiles, as well as advanced electronic warfare systems, along with the standard Rolling Airframe Missile and Mark 110 gun, capable of firing 220 rounds per minute.

The class of ships is regarded as a fast, agile platform designed to operate in near-shore environments, and capable of open-ocean tasking and winning against 21st-century coastal threats such as submarines, mines and swarming small craft.

The future USS Indianapolis will be the Navy's 17th littoral combat ship, with plans for construction of 22 more. All are named in honor of U.S. cities.

Part of the LCS vessels' ability to accomplish a variety of missions is the module system used to replace tools and weapons on the ships. The mission modular packages are designed for quick installation to fulfill a specific mission; when that mission is complete, it can be replaced with another MP.

A Longbow Hellfire surface-to-surface missile module was successfully tested from an Independence-class littoral combat ship on June 11 at the Point Mugu Sea Range, Calif. Missile testing on the other LCS variant, the Freedom class, was successfully completed earlier this year.

Northrop Grumman Systems was awarded a $45.5 million contract modification in March for engineering support on certain modular mission packages, which allow the ship to deploy with everything needed to perform mine countermeasures, surface warfare, or anti-submarine warfare missions.