USS Pierre (LCS-38)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Pierre.

USS Pierre (LCS-38) will be an Independence-class littoral combat ship of the United States Navy.^[1][5] She will be the second ship to be named for Pierre, South Dakota, the first being USS Pierre (PC-1141), a PC-461-class submarine chaser from World War II.^[5]

Sister ship USS Independence
History
United States
Name	Pierre
Namesake	Pierre
Awarded	17 December 2018[1]
Builder	Austal USA
Laid down	16 June 2023[2]
Launched	5 August 2024[3]
Sponsored by	Larissa Thune Hargens
Christened	18 May 2024[4]
Identification	Hull number: LCS-38
Status	Under construction
Badge
General characteristics
Class and type	Independence-class littoral combat ship
Displacement	2,307 metric tons light, 3,104 metric tons full, 797 metric tons deadweight
Length	127.4 m (418 ft)
Beam	31.6 m (104 ft)
Draft	14 ft (4.27 m)
Propulsion	2× gas turbines, 2× diesel, 4× waterjets, retractable Azimuth thruster, 4× diesel generators
Speed	40 knots (74 km/h; 46 mph)+, 47 knots (87 km/h; 54 mph) sprint
Range	4,300 nautical miles (8,000 km; 4,900 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)+
Capacity	210 tonnes
Complement	40 core crew (8 officers, 32 enlisted) plus up to 35 mission crew
Sensors and processing systems	Sea Giraffe 3D Surface/Air RADAR Bridgemaster-E Navigational RADAR AN/KAX-2 EO/IR sensor for GFC
Electronic warfare & decoys	EDO ES-3601 ESM 4× SRBOC rapid bloom chaff launchers
Armament	BAE Systems Mk 110 57 mm gun 4× .50 cal (12.7 mm) guns (2 aft, 2 forward) Evolved SeaRAM 11 cell missile launcher Mission modules
Aircraft carried	2× MH-60R/S Seahawks

Design and construction

In 2002, the United States Navy initiated a program to develop the first of a fleet of littoral combat ships.^[6] The Navy initially ordered two trimaran hulled ships from General Dynamics, which became known as the Independence-class littoral combat ship after the first ship of the class, USS Independence.^[6] Even-numbered US 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 Freedom-class littoral combat ship.^[6] The initial order of littoral combat ships involved a total of four ships, including two of the Independence-class design.^[6] On 29 December 2010, the Navy announced that it was awarding Austal USA a contract to build ten additional Independence-class littoral combat ships.^[7][8]

Pierre is being built in Mobile, Alabama by Austal USA.^[2]