She was officially accepted by the Supervisor of Shipbuilding Gulf Coast, on behalf of the US Navy, from the Lockheed Martin/Marinette Marine/Gibbs and Cox team, in Marinette, Wisconsin, on 18 September 2008.

[6] Commissioned in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on 8 November 2008, Freedom was home-ported in San Diego,[3] and assigned to Littoral Combat Ship Squadron One.

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

[10][11] Freedom is the first of two dramatically different LCS designs being produced; the other, USS Independence (LCS-2), is a trimaran built by a team led by General Dynamics' Bath Iron Works and Austal USA in Mobile, Alabama.

The friction stir welded aluminum deckhouse is very flat which, combined with an angular design, makes it difficult for radar systems to detect.

The flight deck is 1.5 times the size of that of a standard surface ship, and uses a Trigon traversing system to move helicopters in and out of the hangar.

[22] On 25 April 2008, the New York Times ran a highly critical article, arguing that both Freedom and competitor Independence demonstrated a failure of the Navy's littoral combat ship program.

[23] Prior to delivery, the U.S. Navy's Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV) conducted acceptance trials aboard Freedom, 17–21 August.

Navy officials report that transiting the ship away from Marinette, Wisconsin, prior to the winter freeze was a higher priority than timely correction of starred deficiencies.

[3] On 12 June 2009, the Navy confirmed that Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Gary Roughead, had ordered a study of an early deployment of Freedom, before the expected date of 2012.

[30] For this deployment 20 additional sailors will be carried for Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure operations in two shipping containers in the mission module cargo area.

[31] About half of the 20 member boarding team will be temporarily replaced with United States Coast Guard law enforcement officers for some portion of the deployment.

[33] In her limited time at sea, Freedom has been "plagued by flawed designs and failed equipment since being commissioned, has at least 17 known cracks, and has repeatedly been beset by engine-related failures".

[40] During a heavy-weather ocean trial in February 2011, the ship developed a six-inch (150 mm) crack in its hull that leaked 5 US gallons (19 L) of water an hour.

An inflatable boot seal was deployed in a successful effort to contain the flooding, and the ship returned to San Diego, on its own power.

The 57 mm Mk 110 gun is differently designed on the Freedom class, which cause vibrations at high speeds that make accurate firing difficult.

[56] On 21 May, Freedom's first venture from Singapore harbor was cut short by another equipment failure,[57] followed on 20 July 2013, by another breakdown requiring a return to port.

[60] In November 2013, Freedom delivered relief supplies to the Philippines, in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan, from 16 nmi (30 km; 18 mi) off shore, using her own and another ship's helicopters.

[61] From 25 April–16 May 2014, Freedom conducted the future concept of operations (CONOPS) for crewed and uncrewed helicopters aboard littoral combat ships.

The demonstration included one MH-60R/S Seahawk and one MQ-8B flying with the surface warfare (SUW) mission package installed, intended to provide fleet protection against small boats and asymmetric threats.

[62] In March 2015, Freedom completed rough water trials to demonstrate seaworthiness and structural integrity, collecting data while operating in sea states 5 and 6 for 11 days.