USS ''Minneapolis-Saint Paul'' (LCS-21) is a

littoral combat ship The littoral combat ship (LCS) is either of two classes of relatively small surface vessels designed for operations near shore by the United States Navy. It was "envisioned to be a networked, agile, stealthy surface combatant capable of defeat ...

of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. She is the second ship in naval service named after Minnesota's Twin Cities.

Design

In 2002, the US Navy initiated a program to develop the first of a fleet of

s. The Navy initially ordered two monohull ships from

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...

, which became known as the ''Freedom''-class littoral combat ships after the first ship of the class, . 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 A trimaran (or double-outrigger) is a multihull boat that comprises a main hull and two smaller outrigger hulls (or "floats") which are attached to the main hull with lateral beams. Most modern trimarans are sailing yachts designed for recreati ...

hull from

General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded, aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales, and 5th largest in the Uni ...

. The initial order of littoral combat ships involved a total of four ships, including two of the ''Freedom''-class design. ''Minneapolis-Saint Paul'' is the eleventh ''Freedom''-class littoral combat ship to be built.

Construction and career

On 29 December 2010,

Marinette Marine Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM) is an American shipbuilding firm in Marinette, Wisconsin. Marinette Marine was a subsidiary of Manitowoc Marine Group of Wisconsin from 2000 to 2009, when it was sold to Fincantieri Marine Group. History M ...

was awarded the contract to build the ship in

Marinette, Wisconsin Marinette is a city in and the county seat of Marinette County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located on the south bank of the Menominee River, at its mouth at Green Bay, part of Lake Michigan; to the north is Stephenson Island, part of the ...

. The ship was christened at the Marinette shipyard in 2019. The commissioning ceremony was expected to take place in the spring of 2021 before a problem with the propulsion system was discovered. On 15 June 2021, ''Minneapolis-St. Paul'' was launched in Marinette. The Navy commissioned the ship on 21 May 2022 in

Duluth , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...

, Minnesota under the command of

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

Alfonza White. In September 2022, the ship was involved in a collision with ''Danmark'', a 252-foot

full-rigged ship A full-rigged ship or fully rigged ship is a sailing vessel's sail plan with three or more masts, all of them square-rigged. A full-rigged ship is said to have a ship rig or be ship-rigged. Such vessels also have each mast stepped in three se ...

. ''Danmark'' was being towed by a tugboat when she collided with the stationary ''Minneapolis-Saint Paul''. No injuries were reported.

References

* Freedom-class littoral combat ships Lockheed Martin 2019 ships {{US-mil-ship-stub