The next ship to be commissioned and carry the Kansas City name arrived at its homeport in San Diego, May 24. The future USS Kansas City (LCS 22) arrived for the first time at Naval Base San Diego, where the Navy will commission the Independence-variant littoral combat ship (LCS) June 20.Kansas City will be homeported in San Diego with sister ships USS Independence (LCS 2), USS Coronado (LCS 4), USS Jackson (LCS 6), USS Montgomery (LCS 8), USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10), USS Omaha (LCS 12), USS Manchester (LCS 14), USS Tulsa (LCS 16), USS Charleston (LCS 18), and USS Cincinnati (LCS 20).
Kansas City was built in Mobile, Alabama by Austal USA in conjunction with General Dynamics. Prior to departing Mobile for San Diego, Kansas City’s crew conducted a 21-day restriction in movement (ROM) in accordance with U.S. Navy pre-deployment guidelines. Due to public health safety and restrictions of large public events related to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Navy cancelled the traditional public commissioning ceremony for the future USS Kansas City (LCS 22). The Navy will commission Kansas City via naval message and transition the ship into service as scheduled.
Kansas City is the 21st LCS to be delivered to the U.S. Navy, and the 11th of the Independence-variant to join the fleet. LCS 22 is the second ship to be named for Kansas City, the largest city in the state of Missouri. Kansas City was built in Mobile, Alabama by Austal USA.[7] The ship was christened on 22 September 2018 in Mobile, Alabama, and sponsored by Tracy Davidson, wife of Admiral Philip S. Davidson[3] She was launched 19 October 2018 into the Mobile River. The name Kansas City was also assigned to the Wichita-class replenishment oiler AOR-3 in 1967. This ship saw service in the Vietnam War and Operation Desert Storm and was decommissioned in 1994.
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. Two ships were approved, to compete with Lockheed Martin’s Freedom-class design. The ships are 127.4 m (418 ft) long, with a beam of 31.6 m (104 ft), and a draft of 13 ft (3.96 m). Their displacement is rated at 2,176 tons light, 2,784 tons full, and 608 tons deadweight. Although the trimaran hull increases the total surface area, it is still able to reach sustainable speeds of about 50 knots (93 km/h; 58 mph), with a range of 10,000 nautical miles (19,000 km; 12,000 mi).
