Lockheed Martin has launched LCS 23 Freedom-class USS Cooperstown combat ship for US Navy.

According to a Tweet published by Lockheed Martin on January 19, 2020, Lockheed Martin has launched the LCS 23 Freedom-class, the future USS Cooperstown, bringing the ship one step closer to joining the U.S. Navy.

Lockheed Martin has launched LCS 23 Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship for U.S. Navy. (Picture source Twitter Lockheed Martin)

The Lockheed Martin team officially laid the keel for the U.S. Navy's 23rd Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), the future USS Cooperstown, during a ceremony that was held at Fincantieri Marinette Marine in Marinette, Wisconsin, in August 2018.

Lockheed Martin's Freedom-variant LCS is highly maneuverable, lethal and adaptable. Originally designed to support focused missions such as mine warfare, anti-submarine warfare, and surface warfare, the team continues to evolve capabilities based on rigorous Navy operational testing; sailor feedback and multiple successful fleet deployments. The Freedom-variant LCS integrates new technology and capability to support mission capability from deep water to the littorals.

The USS Cooperstown (LCS-23) is an LCS Freedom-class littoral combat ship for the United States Navy. The LCS class consists of two variants, the Freedom variant and the Independence variant, designed and built by two industry teams. The Freedom-variant team is led by Lockheed Martin (for the odd-numbered hulls, e.g. LCS 1). It is a steel monohull design constructed by Lockheed Martin in the Fincantieri Marinette Marine Corporation's shipyard in Marinette, Wisconsin.

The Freedom-class combat ship is a semi-planning steel monohull with an aluminum superstructure. It is 377 feet (115 m) in length, displaces 3,500 metric tons (3,400 long tons), and can achieve 47 knots (87 km/h; 54 mph). The design incorporates a large reconfigurable sea frame to allow rapidly interchangeable mission modules, a flight deck with integrated helicopter launch, recovery and handling system and the capability to launch and recover boats (manned and unmanned) from both the stern and side.

Armament of the Freedom-class combat ship includes one BAE Systems Mk 110 57 mm gun, 400 rounds in turret and two ready service magazines with 240 rounds each, one Mk 49 launcher with 21 RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Surface-to-Air Missiles, four .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns, two 30 mm Mk44 Bushmaster II guns (part of SUW module) and 24 AGM-114L Hellfire missiles (planned part of SUW module).