USS Cincinnati (LCS-20) will be an Independence-class littoral combat ship of the United States Navy. She will be the fifth ship to be named for Cincinnati, Ohio. The USS Cincinnati, an Independence-class littoral combat ship, becomes the 11th ship built by Austal USA as part of the LCS program. Cincinnati is currently being built in Mobile, Alabama by Austal USA. She was christened on May 7, 2018 by former Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker. She has been assigned to Littoral Combat Ship Squadron ONE.
The Independence-variant littoral combat ship is a high-speed, shallow draft, surface warfare ship designed to conduct anti-submarine warfare and mine countermeasure missions. LCS is a modular, reconfigurable ship designed to host interchangeable mission packages onto the seaframe in support of surface warfare, mine countermeasures, and anti-submarine warfare. The Navy’s LCS class consists of the Freedom variant and the Independence variant, designed and built by two industry teams. The Independence variant team is led by Austal USA and the Freedom variant team is led by Lockheed Martin. Both variants are being purchased under an innovative block-buy acquisition strategy. The U.S. Navy has contracted Austal USA to build 15 littoral combat ship worth a combined cumulative value of more than $4.5 billion.
