US Navy Takes Delivery of Future USS Beloit (LCS 29)
The U.S. Navy announced it has accepted delivery of the second-to-last Freedom-variant Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), the future USS Beloit (LCS 29), from Lockheed Martin at the Fincantieri Marinette Marine shipyard in Marinette, Wis, on September 30.
The 15th Freedom-variant Littoral Combat Ship and the 29th in the LCS class, Beloit is the first Navy warship named in honor of the city of Beloit, Wis.
“Beloit is another shining example of what it means to finish strong,” said Capt. Matthew Lehmann, program manager of the Littoral Combat Ship program office. “Our industry partners stood up to the challenge to deliver this ship on an aggressive schedule. Beloit’s delivery is helping the Navy to put more players on the field.”
Beloit completed Acceptance Trials in August 2024, marking the final milestone before delivery to the Navy. During these trials, the Navy conducted comprehensive testing of LCS 29's systems across multiple functional areas essential to performance at sea — including combat systems, main propulsion, auxiliaries and electrical systems. Next, the Navy will continue post-delivery certifications and qualifications to ready the warship for Fleet operations. After commissioning, scheduled for later this year, Beloit will be homeported in Mayport, Fla.
LCS 29 is equipped with the Freedom-class combining gear correction, which will enable unrestricted operations. This correction addresses a class-wide issue that was identified as the Fleet deployed Freedom-variant LCS in greater numbers.
Following Beloit, the future USS Cleveland (LCS 31) -- the final Freedom-variant LCS – is in the final stages of construction at Fincantieri Marinette Marine, with delivery scheduled in 2025.
The LCS class consists of two variants, Freedom and Independence, designed and built by two separate industry teams. The trimaran-hulled Independence-variant team is led by Austal USA (for the even-numbered ships). The monohull Freedom variant is built by a team led by Lockheed Martin (for the odd-numbered ships).