Austal‘s U.S. subsidiary has delivered the USS Charleston littoral combat ship to the U.S. Navy at a ceremony at the company’s shipyard in Mobile, Ala.
The delivery marks the third LCS shipment from Austal USA this year, the company said Friday.
Charleston is the eighth ship of the Independence variant and 16th LCS slated to enter the Navy’s fleet.
The vessel will join 10 other LCS in San Diego after upon commissioning.
Austal USA is assembling the USS Kansas City and USS Oakland ships and building modules for the USS Mobile and USS Savannah vessels.
The company will prepare USS Cincinnati for sea trials and is scheduled to begin construction of USS Canberra in early 2019.