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LCS design concept]] The concept behind the Littoral Combat Ship, as described by Secretary Of The Navy Gordon R. England , is to "create a small, fast, maneuverable and relatively inexpensive member of the DD(X) family of ships." The ship is to be easily reconfigured for in multiple roles, including Anti-submarine Warfare , mine countermeasures, anti-surface warfare, Intelligence , Surveillance and Reconnaissance , homeland defense, maritime intercept, special operations, and Logistics . It is also intended to be able to operate with Carrier strike or surface action groups. DEVELOPMENT AND FUNDING In 2004 , Lockheed Martin , General Dynamics and Raytheon submitted preliminary designs to the Navy. It was decided to produce two vessels each (Flight 0) of the Lockheed Martin design (LCS-1 and LCS-3) and of the General Dynamics design (LCS-2 and LCS-4). After these are brought into service, and experience has been gathered on the usability and efficiency of the designs, the future design for the class will be chosen (Flight I). This may be a straight decision to use one or the other design in whole, or a combined form made by cherry-picking the best features from each. On 9 May , 2005 , Secretary of the Navy Gordon England announced that the first LCS would be named USS ''Freedom'' (LCS-1) . Her keel was laid down on 2 June 2005 in Marinette Marine , Marinette, Wisconsin . {Link without Title} . On 19 January , 2006 , the keel for the General Dynamics Trimaran , USS ''Independence'' (LCS-2) , was laid at the Austal USA shipyards in Mobile , Alabama . Some believe that LCS is a "preemptive strike" intended to create a successor to -sized attack boats. An international task force has been put together to determine the usefulness of the Littoral Combat Ship in the navies of the United Kingdom , France , Italy and Germany . In late December 2005 the House and Senate agreed to fund another two LCSs. The Navy currently plan to build 55 of these ships. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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