USS ''Omaha'' (LCS-12) is an 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 fourth ship to be named for Omaha, the largest city in

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

. The vessel's

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

on 18 February 2015 at the

Austal USA Austal USA is an American shipbuilder based on Blakeley Island in Mobile, Alabama. It is a subsidiary of the Australian shipbuilder Austal, operating under a Special Security Arrangement which allows it to work independently and separately on ...

shipyard in Mobile, Alabama and launched on 20 November. The ship was commissioned at

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

, California on 3 February 2018 and was assigned to Littoral Combat Ship Squadron One.

Design

In 2002, the

initiated a program to develop the first of a fleet of

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 ...

s. The Navy initially ordered two trimaran hulled ships from General Dynamics, which became known as the after the first ship of the class, . Even-numbered U.S. Navy littoral combat ships are built using the ''Independence''-class trimaran design, while odd-numbered ships are based on a competing design, the conventional

monohull right A monohull is a type of boat having only one hull, unlike multihulled boats which can have two or more individual hulls connected to one another. Fundamental concept Among the earliest hulls were simple logs, but these were generally unst ...

. The initial order of littoral combat ships involved a total of four ships, including two of the ''Independence''-class design. On 29 December 2010, the Navy announced that it was awarding Austal USA a contract to build ten additional ''Independence''-class littoral combat ships.

Construction and career

The vessel was ordered from

with a contract awarded on 29 December 2010. The ceremonial laying of the keel was on 18 February 2015, at their shipyard in Mobile, Alabama. ''Omaha'' was launched from Austal USA's shipyards in Mobile, Alabama on 20 November 2015. ''Omaha'' was christened on 19 December 2015. The ship's sponsor was Omaha philanthropist Susie Buffett. The littoral combat ship was the fourth ship to be named for Omaha, the largest city in

. ''Omaha'' was commissioned on 3 February 2018 in

, California. She was assigned to Littoral Combat Ship Squadron One.

UFO incident

On 15 July 2019 alleged multiple

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...

s were tracked on the ship's radar while training off the coast of San Diego. Subsequent investigation by the Pentagon's Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force ( UAPTF) failed to determine the nature or origin of the phenomena, which remain unexplained.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Omaha 2015 ships Independence-class littoral combat ships