That hull design evolved into the high-speed trimaran ferry HSC Benchijigua Express and the Independence class was then proposed by General Dynamics and Austal as a contender for Navy plans to build a fleet of smaller, agile, multipurpose warships to operate nearshore in the littoral zone.

[21] On 20 June 2020, the US Navy announced that all four would be taken out of commission in March 2021, and will be placed in inactive reserve, because it would be too expensive to upgrade them to match the later ships in the class.

[22][23] Planning for a class of smaller, agile, multipurpose warships to operate in the littoral zone began in the early 2000s.

The planned second ship was cancelled in November 2007, but reordered in May 2009, and laid down in December of that year as Coronado, shortly before Independence was launched.

[26][31] Navy leaders said that the fixed price competition offered the Austal design an equal shot, in spite of its excess size, cost and limited service.

[32] After much inconsistency on how testing and orders were to proceed, in November 2010, the Navy asked that Congress approve ten of each of the Independence and Freedom classes.

[36] Although the trimaran hull increases the total surface area, it is still able to reach sustainable speeds of about 50 knots (93 km/h; 58 mph), with a range of 10,000 nautical miles (19,000 km; 12,000 mi).

[37] The lack of bridge wings on the Independence class had been noted as the top problem in the entire LCS program to the extent that these will need to be retrofitted onto existing ships.

A winch control system will modulate the motion of the anchor to reduce the reliance on manual hand brakes.

The mission bay side door will be redesigned for reliability and the platform lift elevator reconfigured to better handle weapons and ordnance.

[citation needed] In 2014, Independence switched from countermine to surface warfare modes in 96 hours on short notice.

[citation needed] The interior volume and payload is greater than some destroyers and is sufficient to serve as a high-speed transport and maneuver platform.

[47][48] In addition to cargo or container-sized mission modules, the bay can carry four lanes of multiple Strykers, armored Humvees, and their associated troops.

An elevator allows air transport of packages the size of a 20-foot-long (6.1 m) shipping container that can be moved into the mission bay while at sea.

[50] The Independence-class ships also have an integrated LOS Mast, Sea Giraffe 3D Radar and SeaStar Safire FLIR.

H-60 series helicopters provide airlift, rescue, anti-submarine, radar picket and anti-ship capabilities with torpedoes and missiles.

DARPA's Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node (TERN) program aims to build a Medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (MALE UAV) that can operate from LCS-2 and can carry a payload of 600 pounds (270 kg) out to an operational radius of 600–900 nautical miles (1,100–1,700 km).

[56] Austal USA vice president Craig Hooper has responded to critics of the class's light armament by suggesting that the ships employ long range drones instead.

[57] On 8 March 2017, Detroit successfully test fired a vertical-launched AGM-114 Hellfire missile, the first such launch from a littoral combat ship.

[58] The Hellfire system on littoral combat ships is meant to engage smaller agile vessels and strike targets on land.

In late July 2014, the US Navy confirmed that the Naval Strike Missile would be tested aboard the littoral combat ship USS Coronado (LCS-4).

[61] By May 2017, the extended-range Boeing RGM-84 Harpoon and Lockheed Martin LRASM had been withdrawn from the Navy's Over-the-Horizon Weapon System (OTH-WS) competition, leaving the NSM as the only remaining contender.

The cracks may develop if the ships travel faster than 15 knots in seas with maximum wave heights of about eight feet.

[70][71][72] In December 2014, the Navy's recommendation to base the Small Surface Combatant on upgraded versions of both Independence and Freedom LCSs was accepted.

SSC vessels are planned to begin procurement by 2019, and it is being investigated if the enhancements can be added to existing LCS hulls.

[17] On 25 March 2011, then-Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced the names of the third and fourth Independence-class ships, Jackson (LCS-6) and Montgomery (LCS-8), during a press conference in Mobile, Alabama.

[90] On 26 June 2017, Austal announced the order to build the fourteenth Independence-class vessel with a congressional cost cap of $584 million.

[112] This was explained by Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Mike Gilday, during the WEST Conference on 2 March 2020, when he said: We made a decision a number of years ago.

[113] On 20 June 2020, the US Navy announced that they would be taking Independence out of commission in March 2021, and placing her, along with Freedom, Fort Worth, and Coronado in reserve.

In June 2021, the Navy released an abbreviated long-range shipbuilding report to Congress, which included ships planned to be decommissioned during fiscal year 2022.