Independence-class littoral combat ship

USS Independence at Naval Air Station Key West in March 2009.
Class overview
Name:	Independence class
Builders:	Austal USA
Operators:	United States Navy
Cost:	$704 million First Ship Future Ships $360 million
Building:	7
Planned:	13
Completed:	4
Active:	4
General characteristics
Type:	Littoral combat ship
Displacement:	2,307 metric tons light, 3,104 metric tons full, 797 metric tons deadweight
Length:	418 ft (127 m)
Beam:	104 ft (32 m)
Draft:	14 ft (4.3 m)
Propulsion:	2 × MTU Friedrichshafen 20V 8000 Series diesel engines, 2 x General Electric LM2500 gas turbines, 2 x American VULKAN light weight multiple-section carbon fiber propulsion shaftlines, 2 x LJ160E and 2 x LJ150E Wärtsilä waterjets, retractable bow-mounted azimuth thruster, 4 × diesel generators
Speed:	44 knots (51 mph; 81 km/h)
Range:	4,300 nautical miles (7,964 km) at 18 knots (33 km/h)
Capacity:	210 metric tons (206 long tons, 231 short tons)
Complement:	40 core crew (8 officers, 32 enlisted) plus up to 35 mission crew
Sensors and processing systems:	SAAB AN/SPS-77(V)1 Sea GIRAFFE 3D air and surface search radar Sperry Marine BridgeMaster E navigational radar AN/KAX-2 electro-optical sensor with TV and FLIR Northrop Grumman ICMS (Integrated Combat Management System)
Electronic warfare & decoys:	ITT Corporation ES-3601 ESM system 4 × SRBOC decoy launchers for chaff and infrared decoys BAE Systems NULKA active radar decoy system
Armament:	1 × BAE Systems Mk 110 57 mm gun 1 × Raytheon SeaRAM CIWS 4 × .50-cal guns (2 aft, 2 forward) 2 × 30 mm Mk44 Bushmaster II guns (part of SUW module) 24 × AGM-114L Hellfire missiles (planned part of SUW module) Other weapons as part of mission modules
Aircraft carried:	1 × MH-60R/S Seahawk 2 × MQ-8B Fire Scouts or 1 × MQ-8C Fire Scout

The Independence class is a class of littoral combat ships built for the United States Navy.

The hull design evolved from a project at Austal to design a 40 knot cruise ship. That hull design evolved into the high-speed trimaran ferry HSC Benchijigua Express and the Independence class was then proposed by General Dynamics and Austal as a contender for Navy plans to build a fleet of small, multipurpose warships to operate in the littoral zone. Two ships were approved, to compete with Lockheed Martin's Freedom-class design.

Despite initial plans to only build ships of the winner out of the two competing Independence or Freedom classes, in 2010 the Navy announced plans to order up to ten additional ships of each class, for a total 12 ships per class. In March 2016 the Navy announced their intention to order an additional two ships, increasing the order to 13 ships of each class.

It was announced in early September 2016 that the first four vessels of the LCS program would be used as test ships rather than being deployed with the fleet. This includes Independence and Coronado.

As of November 2016^[update], the lead ship and three additional ships have been commissioned. Starting in 2019, ships of this class will be designated as fast frigates (FF) which will include increased firepower and heavier armor.

Planning for a class of small, multipurpose warships to operate in the littoral zone began in the early 2000s. In July 2003, a proposal by General Dynamics (partnering with Austal USA, the American subsidiary of Australian shipbuilder Austal) was approved by the Navy, with a contract for two vessels. These would then be compared to two ships built by Lockheed Martin to determine which design would be taken up by the Navy for a production run of up to 55 ships.