The fourth Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), the USS Detroit (LCS-7), was recently commissioned into the U.S. Navy in its namesake city in Michigan.

She's now part of the Unied States Pacific Fleet and is assigned to LCS Squadron 1 based in San Diego. She will likely be deployed to Asia and the South China Sea.

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The USS Detroit is the sixth U.S. Navy ship to carry the city's name. It's also the eighth LCS to be delivered to the Navy.

She joins her three Freedom-class sister ships in the fleet: USS Freedom (LCS-1), USS Fort Worth (LCS-3) and USS Milwaukee (LCS-5). Six Freedom-class LCS' are under construction by Lockheed Martin.

As part of LCS Squadron 1 and will conduct anti-submarine, surface and mine countermeasures operations around the globe.

Several more warships of the Freedom-class are under construction. These include the USS Little Rock (LCS 9), which is preparing for trials in 2016. The USS Sioux City (LCS 11) was christened last January and is currently conducting system testing in preparation for trials in 2017.

The USS Wichita (LCS 13) is preparing for launch this fall, while the USS Billings (LCS 15) had her keel laid November 2015.

USS Indianapolis (LCS 17) started fabrication in August 2015 and is preparing to have her keel laid this summer. Additional ships in the pre-production phase include USS St. Louis (LCS 19); USS Minneapolis-St. Paul (LCS 21 USS Cooperstown (LCS 23) and unnamed LCS 25.

There are 12 warships currently under construction purchased under the Navy's 22 ship block-buy acquisition strategy.

The LCS-class consists of the Freedom variant and the Independence variant designed and built by two industry teams. The Freedom variant team is led by Lockheed Martin for odd-numbered hulls e.g. LCS 1. The Independence variant team is led by Austal USA for LCS 6 and follow-on even-numbered hulls.

The LCS is a class of relatively small surface vessels intended for operations in the littoral zone or the close to shore. It's been designed as a networked, agile, stealthy surface combatant capable of defeating anti-access and asymmetric threats in the littorals.

They have the capabilities of a small assault transport. These warships have a flight deck and hangar for housing two helicopters; a stern ramp for operating small boats and the cargo volume and payload to deliver a small assault force with fighting vehicles to a roll-on/roll-off port facility.

The ships are easy to reconfigure for different roles. They can be outfitted for anti-submarine warfare, mine countermeasures, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, homeland defense, maritime intercept, special operations, and logistics. All these missions are achieved by using mission-specific modules as needed.

The LCS program is still relatively and the Navy has announced plans for up to 32 ships. The Navy has announced the next 20 vessels to be built after this group will be re-designated frigates.

"This ship represents so much," said Ray Mabus, Secretary of the Navy, said in a release. "It represents the city of Detroit, the motor city. It represents the highly skilled American workers of our nation's industrial base, the men and women who built this great warship and it represents the American spirit of hard work, patriotism and perseverance.

"The USS Detroit will carry these values around the world for decades to come as the newest ship in our nation's growing fleet."

The USS Detroit, which was built in Marinette, Wisconsin and delivered to the Navy on Aug. 12, is 389 feet long and can reach speeds of over 80 km/h.

TagsUSS Detroit, U.S. Navy, LCS, littoral combt ship, Freedom-class, Independence-class