On November 26, 2025, a significant chapter in modern American naval history quietly closed along the riverbanks of Wisconsin as the U.S. Navy officially accepted the delivery of the USS Cleveland (LCS 31). This event, taking place at the Fincantieri Marinette Marine shipyard, marked far more than just the handover of a single vessel; it signaled the conclusion of the entire Freedom-class production line. As the sixteenth and final ship of its variant, the Cleveland represents the culmination of over two decades of design, debate, engineering challenges, and eventual maturation of the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program. For the shipbuilders, Navy personnel, and program managers who have spent years navigating the complexities of this class, the delivery creates a distinct transition point: the era of construction is over, and the focus has now shifted entirely to sustainment and operational deployment.
The USS Cleveland now joins a fleet that has been rapidly evolving. Following close on the heels of recent deliveries like the USS Beloit and USS Nantucket, the Cleveland is set to leave the icy waters of the Midwest for a commissioning ceremony in its namesake city of Cleveland, Ohio, scheduled for the spring of 2026. Following that celebration, she will steam toward her permanent homeport in Mayport, Florida. While the original vision for the LCS program once anticipated a massive fleet of over 50 ships shared between the monohull Freedom-class and the trimaran Independence-class, strategic adjustments have refined that vision. The Navy is now moving forward with a consolidated long-term plan that retains ten Freedom-class ships specifically dedicated to surface warfare roles, ensuring that the surviving hulls are optimized for specific combat duties rather than trying to be a jack-of-all-trades.
The journey to get LCS 31 to the fleet has been paved with significant technical hurdles that defined the early reputation of the class. Early hulls such as the USS Freedom, Fort Worth, and Detroit suffered from well-documented issues with their combining gears—complex mechanisms designed to merge power from diesel engines and gas turbines. These failures led to embarrassing breakdowns and a suspension of deliveries in 2021. However, the ship that the Navy accepted in late 2025 is a fundamentally different machine than its predecessors. Working with Renk AG, the Navy and its industrial partners implemented a robust redesign of the combining gear system, a fix that has been retrofitted onto active ships and built directly into the Cleveland. This “technical maturation” also includes improved corrosion resistance, updated buoyancy profiles, and the installation of the advanced TRS-4D radar system. The Cleveland enters service not as an experiment, but as the beneficiary of every hard-learned lesson from the ships that came before her.
Beneath the grey paint, the USS Cleveland remains a marvel of high-speed naval engineering. The ship utilizes a semi-planing steel monohull designed for speed and agility in shallow coastal waters. Measuring approximately 115 meters in length, the vessel is powered by a Combined Diesel and Gas (CODAG) propulsion system that pairs two massive Rolls-Royce MT30 gas turbines with two Colt Pielstick diesel engines. When pushing full throttle, this system drives four waterjets that can propel the 3,500-ton ship to speeds exceeding 40 knots (74 km/h), a capability that allows it to chase down fast attack craft or rapidly reposition across a theater of operations. The ship is armed with a Mk 110 57mm gun, a Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) launcher for air defense, and plans are in place for the integration of AGM-114L Hellfire missiles, making it a potent adversary in surface engagements. Furthermore, its flight deck and hangar are sized to support the MH-60R/S Seahawk helicopters and the MQ-8 Fire Scout unmanned aerial vehicles, extending the ship’s eyes and reach far beyond the horizon.
However, the USS Cleveland is more than just a collection of steel and sensors; it is the inheritor of a proud lineage. She is the fourth ship to bear the name of the Ohio metropolis, linking a modern 21st-century combatant to over a hundred years of naval tradition. The first USS Cleveland was a protected cruiser commissioned in 1903 that escorted convoys during World War I. The second was a light cruiser that earned glory in the Pacific Theater of World War II, fighting at Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima. The third was an amphibious transport dock that served through Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom. LCS 31’s crest pays homage to this history with four stars and a skyline silhouette of the city, while its motto, “Forge a Legacy,” serves as a marching order for the crew. Uniquely, the USS Cleveland Legacy Foundation has already mapped out the ship’s entire life cycle, including a visionary goal to return the ship to Cleveland as a museum vessel after its projected 20 to 25 years of service, ensuring the name returns home once its watch is ended.
As the Navy prepares for the commissioning in 2026, the focus is also on the human element—the sailors who will bring the ship to life. The “Blue and Gold” rotational crewing model will see a core crew of about 50 sailors, expanding to 75 with aviation and mission detachments, operating the vessel. Recent operational successes, such as the USS St. Louis crew performing a complex engine repair at sea without contractor help in August 2025, demonstrate that the training pipelines are producing sailors capable of maintaining these high-tech ships in austere environments. With the industrial lines now silent and the final ship delivered, the Freedom-class program has successfully transitioned from a manufacturing challenge to a fighting force, leaving the USS Cleveland to write the final chapter of the class’s history on the high seas.
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