ATLANTIC OCEAN (Sept. 28, 2009) The littoral combat ship USS Freedom (LCS 1) conducts flight deck certification with an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter assigned to the Sea Knights of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 22. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Nathan Laird/Released)
Yesterday the Navy stood up Littoral Combat Ship Squadron 2 with an O-6 in command (Capt. Paul Young) of what is expected to be 900 bluejackets of various rates and ranks.
LCSRON 2, located in Mayport (they traded a carrier for this?!) will consist of the Marinette Marine Corporation built Freedom-type littoral combat ships USS Little Rock (LCS 9), USS Sioux City (LCS 11), USS Wichita (LCS 13), USS Billings (LCS 15), USS Indianapolis (LCS 17), and the yet to be named– or even officially ordered– LCS 19.
The thing is, none of these are currently in commission with only the first two even being laid down. With a three year lead time on these ships from the builder, its likely that LCSRON 2 wont see its first hull till sometime in late 2016 and likely will not be at full strength until sometime around 2020.
Nevertheless, “Construction is currently underway for a two-story logistics-support facility that will house classrooms, an operations work space, a reference library, office spaces for the ship crews when they are not shipboard, video teleconference rooms, and a crew lounge.”
