New Littoral Combat Ship launched for U.S. Navy

The ninth Littoral Combat ship of the U.S. Navy was launched over the weekend at the Marinette Marine Corp. shipyard in Wisconsin.

The Little Rock will continue to undergo outfitting and testing by a Lockheed Martin-led team prior to delivery to the Navy later this year.

"This future USS Little Rock will use interchangeable mission modules that empower her to face a variety of high-priority missions, from anti-surface warfare to anti-submarine warfare to mine counter-measures," said Vice President of Littoral Ships & Systems Joe North. "She is ideally suited to navigate the reefs and shallows in the Asia-Pacific, as so well demonstrated by USS Fort Worth on her current deployment."

Marinette Marine has six other Freedom-variant Littoral Combat Ships under construction and has delivered two to the service -- USS Freedom (LCS 1 ), which was deployed to Southeast Asia in 2013 and the USS Fort Worth (LCS 3), which is deployed in Southeast Asia.

The USS Milwaukee (LCS 5) was christened and launched in 2013 and is slated to be delivered to the Navy this fall.