US Navy Secretary names future littoral combat ship USS Cleveland

US Navy Secretary Richard V Spencer has revealed that one of the latest littoral combat ships (LCS) will be named the future USS Cleveland.

The LCS will be named in honour of Cleveland in Ohio and citizens of the city for their service and longstanding support of the US Navy and US Marine Corps (USMC).

The US Navy LCS’s are named after regionally important cities and communities of the country. The future USS Cleveland is the fourth navy ship to carry the name of the US city.

Spencer said: “The city of Cleveland has been steadfast partner to the navy and Marine Corps team and it is fitting to name a future LCS after the city and citizens of Cleveland.”

The US Navy has so far accepted delivery of 16 LCSs.

Under the recent contract modifications, a total of 32 LCSs have been procured by the navy, while ten vessels LCS 15, LCS 17 and LCSs 19 to 26 are currently under construction.

LCS is a modular, reconfigurable vessel designed to meet validated fleet requirements to carry out surface warfare (SUW), anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and mine countermeasures (MCM) missions in the littoral region.

In addition, an interchangeable mission package is embarked on each navy ship and provides the primary mission systems in one of the warfare areas.

LCS is a fast, highly manoeuvrable, networked surface combat vessel, which serves as a specialised variant of the family of US future surface combat ships known as DD(X).