Navy to commission new Lockheed Martin warship: What to know
US Navy plans major show of force in South China Sea
Gen. Jack Keane (Ret.) on Vice President Mike Pence’s speech about China and how the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet is planning to conduct a series of operations in the South China Sea.
The USS Sioux City was commissioned by the U.S. Navy over the weekend in front of 4,000 people, as reported by Military.com.
The combat ship is the first to be commissioned at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, because it is the only ship of its kind that can operate in as little as 14 feet of water. After the ceremony it will enter active service. It was built in Wisconsin by Lockheed Martin.
The Navy spent $360 million to buy 10 ships under a block contract, according to its website.
The littoral combat ship is the Navy’s newest class of warships: relatively small surface combatants designed to operate in congested, shallow waters. The primary missions of these ships include surface warfare, mine countermeasures and anti-submarine warfare.
The USS Sioux is 378 feet long, can travel at 52 miles per hour and boasts an endurance of 21 days. It is the fastest ship in the fleet. It is capable of carrying 15 to 50 core crew members – 75 including mission crew – and can accelerate from 0 to nearly 50 miles per hour in less than two minutes.
It has a helicopter pad, a ramp for small boats, a flight deck that is 1.5 times larger than current combatants and an aircraft hangar that is two times larger.
The ship is named after a city in Iowa and will be stationed in Florida.