USS Sioux City [LCS-11] Freedom Class Littoral Combat Ship

USS Sioux City (LCS-11) is a Freedom-class littoral combat ship of the United States Navy. She is the first ship named after Sioux City, the fourth-largest city in Iowa.[​7][​8] The ceremonial “laying of the keel” was on 19 February 2014, at Marinette, Wisconsin.[​2] The ship was constructed by Fincantieri Marinette Marine and launched on 30 January 2016 after being christened by her sponsor Mary Winnefield, wife of Admiral James A. Winnefeld Jr., USN.[​9][​10]



Sioux City was delivered to the Navy by Lockheed Martin and the Marinette Marine shipyard on 22 August 2018 along with sister ship Wichita in a double delivery.[​3] The ship was commissioned at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland on 17 November 2018,[​4] and then assigned to Littoral Combat Ship Squadron Two. Sioux City will be assigned to the Fifth Fleet in the Persian Gulf.[​11]



The Freedom class is one of two classes of the littoral combat ship program, built for the United States Navy.[​19]



The Freedom class was proposed by a consortium formed by Lockheed Martin as "prime contractor" and by Fincantieri (project) through the subsidiary Marinette Marine (manufacturer) as a contender for a fleet of small, multipurpose warships to operate in the littoral zone. Two ships were approved, to compete with the Independence-class design offered by General Dynamics and Austal for a construction contract of up to 55 vessels.



Despite initial plans to only accept two of the Freedom and Independence variants,[clarification needed] the U.S. Navy has since announced plans to order up to ten additional ships of each class, for a total twelve ships per class.[​20] As of 2016, five ships are active and an additional nine are either on order, under construction or fitting out.



It was announced in early September 2016 that the first four vessels of the LCS program would be used as test ships rather than being deployed with the fleet.[​21][​22] This includes Freedom and Fort Worth. In February 2020 it was announced that the Navy plans to retire the first four LCS ships.[​23]



USS Sioux City is the only ship named for my hometown, and because of that it holds special value. This is also the first time it's been replicated in minecraft.