USS Beloit

USS Beloit (LCS-29) is a Freedom-class littoral combat ship of the United States Navy. She will be the first commissioned ship in naval service named after Beloit, Wisconsin. This honors the contributions Beloit has made to the US Navy, especially the engines built in its Fairbanks Morse plant, including USS Beloit's own powerplant.

Design

In 2002, the US Navy initiated a program to develop the first of a fleet of littoral combat ships. The Navy initially ordered two monohull ships from Lockheed Martin, which became known as the Freedom-class littoral combat ships after the first ship of the class, USS Freedom. Odd-numbered U.S. Navy littoral combat ships are built using the Freedom-class monohull design, while even-numbered ships are based on a competing design, the trimaran hull Independence-class littoral combat ship from General Dynamics. The initial order of littoral combat ships involved a total of four ships, including two of the Freedom-class design. Beloit will be the fifteenth Freedom-class littoral combat ship to be built.

Construction and career

Marinette Marine was awarded the contract to build Beloit on 18 September 2018. She was christened and launched on 7 May 2022 at the shipyard in Marinette, Wisconsin. The ship's sponsor is Beloit-born Major General Marcia Anderson, (USAR, Ret.). Now retired, she was the first African-American woman to reach the rank of Major General in the US Army, US Army Reserve and the US Army National Guard.

References

1. Beloit
2. Fincantieri Marinette Marine
3. Littoral combat ship
4. Marcia Anderson
5. List of United States Navy ships: A–B
6. List of current ships of the United States Navy
7. Naval Station Mayport
8. Luke Somers
9. Roy Chapman Andrews
10. Lyle Gramley
11. Independence-class littoral combat ship
12. Ferdinand Louis Reichmuth
13. Fairbanks-Morse
14. Fairbanks Morse 38 8-1/8 diesel engine
15. Freedom-class littoral combat ship
16. Illinois
17. Sylvia Earle
18. Adam Housley
19. Rosinco
20. Buster Mathis Jr.