Volume 64, Number 2 (2011) Spring

The littoral combat ship USS Independence (LCS 2) alongside in Newport, Rhode Island during a visit in October 2010. Numerous students, faculty, and staff of the College toured the vessel, which was in port to serve as a school ship for the Surface Warfare Officer School. The U.S. Navy’s sixth warship to bear the name and the name-ship of its class, Independence was delivered in late 2009 and commissioned on 16 January 2010. The ship and its modular weapons suite are designed for multipurpose operations in the highly dangerous littoral zones—enclosed waters close to hostile shores, where warships face a challenging combination of shallow depths, complex hydrological conditions, and a variety of sophisticated sea- and land-based sensors and forces.