USS Wichita (LCS-13)

History of the USS Wichita (LCS-13)

USS Wichita (LCS-13) stands for the modern United States Navy (USN) Freedom class warships. The Freedom class itself represents a modern, stealth-aware surface combatant group, classified as a "Littoral Combat Ship," tasked with operating near shore and supporting land operations from the sea. As such, they are multi-purpose vessels, albeit with a relatively compact design and a shallow draft, allowing them to operate close to shore and perform different tasks as needed.

The Freedom class features a more traditional monohull design and will be built alongside the independent class that relies on the trimaran hull layout.

USS Wichita was the seventh Liberty-class ship to be named, out of an estimated 13 ships. Her construction contract was awarded to Marinette Marine on 4 March 2013 and her keel was laid on 9 February 2015. She was launched on September 17, 2016 for assembly and sea trials, and is awaiting her commissioning date at the time of writing (2017). ).

Consistent with the class design, the USS Wichita has a displacement of approximately 3,900 tons (short), a length of 378 feet, a beam of 57.4 feet, and a draft of up to 13 feet. Installed power includes 2 Rolls-Royce MT30 36 MW gas turbines, 2 Colt-Pielstick diesel engines and 4 Rolls-Royce water jets. Under ideal conditions, this gives the vessel a top speed of 45 knots and a range of up to 3,500 nautical miles. With fuel supplies and food supplies, the ship can stay at sea for up to 21 days.

The crew was supplemented by 50 operators and another 75 mission specialists.

Installed weapons allow warships to respond to threats from land, air, sea or underwater. It is also a hybrid of conventional projectile weapons and missiles. 1 x 57 mm Mk 110 deck gun and turret mounted on the foredeck.

She also carries the RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) and can use her Mark 50 torpedoes against maritime threats. Bushmaster 30mm chain gun is optional mount. 2 x 12.7mm heavy machine guns ensure extreme close range defense.

The ship is equipped with a full support facility for up to 2 Sikorsky MH-60R/S Seahawk production helicopters, providing over-the-horizon (OtH) and built-in anti-submarine capabilities - further enhancing the ship's capabilities. Additionally, USS Wichita can operate Northrop Grumman's MQ-8 Fire Recon UAV helicopter.

August 2018 - On Wednesday, August 22, 2018, the U.S. Navy officially took stock of USS Wichita (LCS-13) with the aircraft carrier USS Sioux City (at a ceremony).

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