The U.S. Navy commissioned the 19th and final Independence-class littoral combat ship today. The USS Pierre officially entered service, at a time when the Navy is looking to scrap or repurpose littoral combat ships. 

The Navy welcomed the Pierre into service with a ceremony in Panama City, Florida. Elected representatives and Navy officials, including Navy Secretary John Phelan, spoke at the event. Phelan called the commissioning of the USS Pierre a “critical step” in strengthening the Navy. Cmdr. Justin Guernsey, the ship’s commanding officer, took the time to praise the more than 110 members of the crew. 

“To my coyotes, these past few months you’ve had the opportunity to become intimately familiar with the performance and capabilities of the Navy’s newest fighting ship,” Guernsey said today. “Carry our colors high as we bring this ship to life and forward into what action forward into what action may await.” 

The USS Pierre enters service as the ships of its class remain beset by issues over design flaws, high costs and being left behind as the Navy changed its strategies. Littoral combat ships, built to serve as heavily armed vessels near coasts while being smaller than destroyers, found themselves dealing with several breakdowns and other mechanical issues. Both the Independence- and Freedom-class ships suffered from high costs. The Navy also began moving away from the strategy that birthed them, refocusing on peer-on-peer conflict as the main concern for its fleets. As a result, the Navy is already working to get rid of some of the unwanted ships, even as it commissions already-built ones into service. 

Recently the Navy found newer uses for the troubled ships, using them to hunt mines at sea or go after smugglers. Littoral combat ships have been among the various Navy vessels sent into the Caribbean as part of a buildup of forces this fall, in the name of going after alleged drug traffickers. 

The USS Pierre is the last of 19 Independence-class littoral combat ships to join the Navy. The final Freedom-class littoral combat ship, the USS Beloit, will be commissioned early next year.

Like most other littoral combat ships the USS Pierre is named for an American city. The new USS Pierre is the second Navy ship to be named after South Dakota’s capital city. The first USS Pierre was a PC 461-class submarine built and commissioned in 1943. It was deployed during World War II, both in the Pacific and the Atlantic theaters, under the name PC-1141, only being renamed in 1956. It stayed in service for two more years before decommissioning in 1958. The former USS Pierre then was given to Indonesia’s Navy.

Now officially in service, the USS Pierre will head west. Its will make several stops before ending up in San Diego, where the ship will join other littoral combat ships based out of the city.

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