MARINETTE, Wis. — Saturday morning, Littoral Combat Ship 21 also known as the USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul was christened and launched at the Fincantieri Marinette Marine shipyard.
It's the 11th Freedom-variant Littoral Combat Ship and the 21st in the class.
The Littoral Combat Ship is designed to defeat growing littoral threats and provide access and dominance in the coastal water battlespace. A fast, maneuverable surface combatant, the LCS provides warfighting capabilities and operational flexibility for focused missions including mine-clearing, anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare.
"Great ceremony. Obviously bringing the ship into the water here, doing our christening and launch, and the way we do it up here in Marinette with the Littoral Combat Ships Freedom-variant is always exciting," said Joe DePietro, the Vice President of small combatant and ship systems with Lockheed Martin.
The ship was christened by breaking a bottle of sparkling wine across the bow.
