USS Charleston (LCS 18)

USS CHARLESTON is the ninth INDEPENDENCE - class Littoral Combat Ship and the sixth ship in the Navy named for the city in South Carolina.

General Characteristics:	Awarded: December 29, 2010
	Keel laid: June 28, 2016
	Launched: September 14, 2017
	Commissioned: March 2, 2019
	Builder: Austal USA, Mobile, Ala.
	Propulsion system: two LM2500 gas turbine engines, two diesel engines, four waterjets
	Length: 418 feet (127.5 meters)
	Beam: 104 feet (31.5 meters)
	Draft: 13 feet (4 meters)
	Displacement: approx. 3,104 tons full load
	Speed: 47 knots
	Armament: one Mk-110 57mm gun, one SeaRAM CIWS
	Aircraft: two MH-60 helicopters
	Homeport: San Diego, Calif.
	Crew: 8 officers, 32 enlisted

go to the end of the page

Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS CHARLESTON. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

Click here to view the list.

go to the end of the page

Click here to see which USS CHARLESTON memorabilia are currently for sale on ebay.

go to the end of the page

USS CHARLESTON History:

USS CHARLESTON is an INDEPENDENCE-variant littoral combat ship built by Austal USA at Mobile, Alabama. The Navy authenticated her keel on June 28, 2016, at Austal's Mobile yard, marking the formal start of assembly for the ninth INDEPENDENCE-variant hull. She was christened at Mobile on August 26, 2017, and launched at Austal's facility in mid-September 2017, entering the final phase of outfitting and trials. Following builder's trials in the Gulf of Mexico, CHARLESTON completed Navy acceptance trials on July 19, 2018, demonstrating propulsion, combat systems, and aviation facilities performance to the Board of Inspection and Survey. The Navy accepted delivery at Mobile on August 31, 2018, transferring the ship to government custody ahead of her commissioning.

After post-delivery preparations on the U.S. Gulf Coast, CHARLESTON was commissioned in her namesake city on March 2, 2019, during a ceremony at the Columbus Street Terminal, Charleston, South Carolina. Within days, she began her first long transit as a commissioned unit, proceeding via the Panama Canal to the Pacific and arriving at her homeport of Naval Base San Diego on April 19, 2019, to join Littoral Combat Ship Squadron ONE. Through mid- and late-2019, she conducted shakedown evolutions, training, and initial integration with LCSRON support units in Southern California, then shifted to a post-shakedown availability (PSA) scheduled to be executed in the Pacific Northwest. By late 2019, CHARLESTON entered PSA work in Seattle, Washington, where shipyard teams corrected trial-card deficiencies, incorporated approved engineering changes, and performed guarantee-period repairs. That PSA extended into 2020, concluding around September 2020, after which the ship returned to San Diego to resume local operations, type training, and pre-deployment preparations, including crew certification and integration with her embarked aviation detachment.

On April 7, 2021, CHARLESTON departed San Diego for her maiden Western Pacific rotational deployment, embarking a detachment from HELICOPTER SEA COMBAT SQUADRON 21 (HSC-21). Early in the deployment, she supported the Oceania Maritime Security Initiative (OMSI), operating with a U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET 104) to enhance fisheries enforcement and maritime domain awareness across Pacific island EEZs. LEDET personnel conducted RHIB operations and boardings from CHARLESTON during April. While operating in the eastern Philippine Sea on April 26, 2021, an embarked MQ-8B FIRE SCOUT unmanned helicopter experienced a mishap shortly after takeoff, striking the ship above the waterline and entering the sea. No personnel were injured and the ship continued her mission with damage localized topside. Over the northern summer of 2021, CHARLESTON participated in the PACIFIC GRIFFIN 2021 bilateral exercise with the Republic of Singapore Navy around Guam (June 21-July 7, 2021), contributing a shallow-draft surface combatant to advanced maritime warfare serials. In December 2021, she made a port visit to Dili, Timor-Leste, and led the at-sea phase of CARAT Timor-Leste 2021 (December 6-15, 2021), conducting boarding drills, maneuvering exercises, and maritime security engagements with the F-FDTL. The ship hosted a reception in Dili on December 8, 2021, as part of the ashore engagement program.

At the outset of 2022, CHARLESTON completed a Total Ship Readiness Assessment in Apra Harbor, Guam, in mid-January 2022, then commenced an extended underway in the South China Sea from January 21 to February 8, 2022, remaining continuously at sea for 19 days. After a brief fuel stop at Subic Bay, Philippines, she arrived back in Guam on February 14, 2022. Through the spring she continued 7th Fleet tasking across the Philippine Sea and East China Sea and, on May 21, 2022, executed a vertical replenishment (VERTREP) with USS SAMPSON (DDG 102) as part of training for contested maritime resupply. At the end of May 2022 and into June, the ship operated in the Western Pacific and hosted senior Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force admirals aboard while moored at Commander Fleet Activities Sasebo on June 1, 2022, in support of staff engagements and familiarization. In August 2022, CHARLESTON joined combined forces for Super Garuda Shield in the Natuna Sea (August 3-4, 2022), conducting visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) training alongside KRI BUNG TOMO (357) and other TNI-AL ships, and integrating with USS GREEN BAY (LPD 20). The ship then shifted to northern Australia for the Royal Australian Navy's EXERCISE KAKADU 2022, participating ashore at Darwin and at sea in the Arafura Sea from September 12-24, 2022. While in company during KA22, she conducted a replenishment-at-sea event with HMAS STALWART (A 304) on September 20, 2022. Throughout late 2022 and into early 2023, CHARLESTON continued rotational tasking under DESTROYER SQUADRON SEVEN, contributing to presence operations in the East and South China Seas and completing mine countermeasure training events - the first by an LCS conducted outside U.S. waters - while forward.

CHARLESTON concluded her 26-month overseas rotation in June 2023, returning to Naval Base San Diego on June 14, 2023. During the deployment the ship was kept on-station by alternating BLUE and GOLD crews, with maintenance execution teams meeting the ship at hubs in Guam, Hawaii, and Singapore to sustain availability without a U.S. homeport return. Following her arrival, CHARLESTON entered a Docking Ship Repair Availability at BAE Systems, San Diego, in July 2023, receiving propulsion overhauls and updates to the Integrated Combat Management System and Total Ship's Computing Environment. She conducted a three-day post-availability underway in the Southern California Operating Areas beginning October 21 (returning to San Diego after systems checks and crew refresher training). On November 15, 2024, the ship held a change-of-command ceremony at Naval Base San Diego; by April 1, 2024, the ship's manning model had been realigned from alternating BLUE/GOLD crews to a single consolidated crew under the Navy's revised LCS employment plan, streamlining training and readiness cycles while she remained homeported in San Diego under LCSRON ONE.

On May 20, 2025, CHARLESTON departed San Diego to support U.S. Northern Command tasking along the southern U.S. maritime approaches, assuming duties previously covered by USS STOCKDALE (DDG 106). The ship's mission set included maritime patrols and presence operations directed by USNORTHCOM, leveraging the LCS's shallow draft and modular aviation capabilities for surveillance and interdiction support in coastal waters. As of late 2025, CHARLESTON remained in active service with LCSRON ONE at San Diego, available for fleet tasking and future rotational assignments following the completion of her post-deployment modernization and crew realignment.

go to the end of the page

USS CHARLESTON Image Gallery:

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning aboard USS CHARLESTON during an open ship event as part of Fleet Week San Francisco on October 9, 2019.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning on October 11, 2019, and show the CHARLESTON underway in San Francisco Bay during the Parade of Ships during Fleet Week San Francisco.