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About the Ship's Coat of Arms

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USS Independence (LCS 2)

USS INDEPENDENCE was the lead ship of the INDEPENDENCE - class of Littoral Combat Ships and the General Dynamics consortium's design for the Navy's littoral combat ship program. It is a trimaran design and competes with Lockheed Martin's USS FREEDOM (LCS 1) monohull design. The USS INDEPENDENCE was the seventh ship in the Navy to bear the name and the first ship in the fleet fitted with the SeaRAM system. In 2020, the Navy decided that it was too expensive to upgrade the INDEPENDENCE and that the ship was to be decommissioned. Although built for an expected 25-year service life, the INDEPENDENCE held a decommissioning ceremony at San Diego, Calif., on July 29, 2021, and was officially decommissioned on July 31, 2021. During her 11 years of service she acted as a test platform for mission package development. The ship is presently laid up at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash.

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Crew List:

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

• Click here to view the list.

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

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About the Ship's Coat of Arms:

The Shield:

Dark blue and gold are traditionally associated with the United States Navy. The field is charged with a representation of LCS 2 at sea. The crenellated bordure bears six merlons, each representing one of the previous ships to bear the name INDEPENDENCE. The eight mullets on the bordure recall the battle stars awarded INDEPENDENCE (CVL 22) for distinguished service during World War II. Gold also denotes excellence.

The Crest:

The Liberty Bell signifies the freedoms achieved by America's independence from England's domination and emphasizes the participation in gaining national independence of the first ships to bear the name. The stars and stripes and commodore's pennant of the early nineteenth century recall the nation's struggles of that historic period.

The Motto:

"Libertas Per Laborem Audentium" (Independence Through Bold Action) in gold letters on a dark blue scroll garnished Argent doubled gold with dark blue garnish.

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USS INDEPENDENCE History:

USS INDEPENDENCE, the lead ship of the trimaran-hulled INDEPENDENCE-variant, was laid down at Austal USA, Mobile, Alabama, on January 19, 2006; launched on April 28, 2008; delivered to the U.S. Navy on December 18, 2009; and commissioned at Mobile on January 16, 2010, with Doreen Scott as sponsor. The ship's initial manning model was a small core crew designed to support modular mission packages for surface warfare, mine countermeasures, and anti-submarine warfare.

Following post-commissioning preparations, INDEPENDENCE began her first extended movements along the U.S. East Coast in spring 2010 in support of testing, trials, and public outreach. She entered Naval Air Station Key West on March 29, 2010, paused again in Key West on March 31, and took part in Fleet Week Port Everglades upon entering Port Everglades, Florida, on April 26, 2010. She also called at Naval Station Mayport on April 2, 2010, and shifted to Naval Station Norfolk beginning April 14, 2010, for a period of additional testing and specialized training. A subsequent visit to Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island, on October 22, 2010, rounded out a first year focused on evaluation and familiarization events.

In 2011, the ship continued East Coast show-the-flag and fleet introduction activity, including participation in events at Newport and other ports, while Navy and industry addressed an early galvanic-corrosion problem discovered around the stainless-steel waterjet housings interfacing with the aluminum structure. Corrective measures - including cathodic protection and insulation improvements - were implemented during maintenance periods to arrest the issue and inform class-wide corrosion-control practices.

INDEPENDENCE entered intensive mine countermeasures (MCM) integration and developmental testing beginning in 2012. After transiting the Panama Canal and mooring at Vasco Nunez de Balboa Naval Base on April 15, 2012, she visited Manzanillo, Mexico, on April 23 while en route to her new homeport of San Diego, where she arrived on May 2, 2012. In this period, the ship and program offices exercised elements of the Increment 1 MCM mission package - such as the AN/AQS-20 towed sonar and (at the time) the Remote Minehunting System - to mature launch, recovery, and ship-system integration.

The ship's West Coast years were characterized by alternating local operations, test events, and broader fleet exercises. During the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2014 exercise, INDEPENDENCE conducted what her naval historical evaluation later called a series of "firsts" for the type: a San Diego-to-Hawaii transit without refueling; sustained integration of a surface warfare detachment and an HSC helicopter detachment with simultaneous dual-helicopter flight operations; the ship's first organic VBSS boardings; vertical replenishment for stores; carrier plane-guard operations; and participation in Composite Warfare Commander constructs, including acting as opposing force against a multinational surface action group. The ship also supported afloat forward staging base operations with Peruvian and Republic of Korea special operations forces, conducted an Air/Surface search-and-rescue evolution, and enabled a live HELLFIRE firing from an LCS aviation asset. Public affairs releases at the time highlighted INDEPENDENCE's utility to special operations forces training off Oahu (July 18, 2014) and documented her arrival for RIMPAC (July 6, 2014).

From late 2014 through 2015, the Navy concentrated on developmental and early operational testing that paired the INDEPENDENCE-variant seaframe with the MCM mission package. INDEPENDENCE hosted integrated seaframe-and-MCM DT events in October 2014 and again in January 2015 (including gunnery), then sailed from San Diego to the Gulf of Mexico, arriving Pensacola, Florida, on February 17, 2015. Following installation and grooming of the Increment 1 MCM package, the crew conducted training ahead of test phases. The Navy and Commander, Operational Test and Evaluation Force then executed the cybersecurity portion of Operational Test C2 in Pensacola during June-July 2015. In August 2015, the Navy conducted the first shipboard live firing of the ship's SeaRAM system against a subsonic aerial target using LCS 2.

After prolonged maintenance availabilities, INDEPENDENCE re-established operational rhythm in 2017-2018 under a single-crewing concept. On March 10, 2017, LCS Crew 201 ("SPARTANS") took permanent command, incorporating the embarked Mine Detachment 2 ("PANTHERS"). In 2018, the ship returned to sea after roughly 18 months of maintenance, resumed local underway training, hosted numerous waterfront training evolutions and shipboard certifications, and pushed MCM capability development further - most notably by exercising the Knifefish unmanned undersea vehicle and the Unmanned Influence Sweep System (UISS) as the program advanced toward operational test readiness.

On January 14, 2019, PEO USC reported successful shipboard integration testing of both Knifefish and UISS aboard INDEPENDENCE, with multiple launch-and-recovery evolutions and verified command-and-control links, rounding out the vehicle-integration baseline for the MCM mission package on an INDEPENDENCE-variant hull. Through early 2019, the ship also operated in the Eastern Pacific.

INDEPENDENCE's 2019 schedule broadened beyond test events to include fleet-integration work and public outreach. In March, she took part in a passing exercise (PASSEX) with Canadian and Mexican naval units; in May she supported USS MONTGOMERY (LCS 8)'s Surface Warfare Advanced Tactical Training (SWATT) event and then made a short-notice appearance at Portland Fleet Week during the Portland Rose Festival. In June, she supported Royal Canadian Navy pre-deployment advanced tactical training for HMCS OTTAWA. The second half of 2019 was devoted to readiness evaluations and material inspections, including INSURV preparations and assessments that her evaluation notes were completed with above fleet-average scores.

In 2020, amid pandemic-era constraints, the ship's activity included crew-resource management refreshers at the LCS Training Facility, routine local underway periods from San Diego, hosting of Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force leaders, and completion of certifications toward Basic Phase milestones.

The Navy announced in 2020 plans to retire the first four LCS hulls early. INDEPENDENCE formally decommissioned at Naval Base San Diego on July 29, 2021, after a ceremony recognizing more than a decade of service. She was subsequently stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on September 15, 2022, and her current status is "stricken, final disposition pending", in lay-up at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Bremerton, Washington.

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USS INDEPENDENCE Image Gallery:

The photos below were taken by me and show the INDEPENDENCE at Naval Base Norfolk, Va., on October 29, 2010.

The photos below were taken by me and show the INDEPENDENCE at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on May 8, 2012 - only 6 days after her maiden arrival in San Diego.

The photos below were taken by me and show the INDEPENDENCE undergoing a Post Shakedown Availability at NASSCO in San Diego, Calif., on October 3, 2012.

The photos below were taken by Henry Schnutz and show the INDEPENDENCE at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on August 27, 2013.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the INDEPENDENCE at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on December 27, 2014.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the INDEPENDENCE undergoing a drydocking Selected Restricted Availability (DSRA) at General Dynamics-National Steel and Shipbuilding Co., San Diego, Calif., on April 18, 2016.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the INDEPENDENCE at General Dynamics-National Steel and Shipbuilding Co., San Diego, Calif., on October 6, 2016.

The photos below were taken by Sebastian Thoma and show the INDEPENDENCE at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on December 20, 2016.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the INDEPENDENCE at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on October 11, 2017.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the INDEPENDENCE at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on September 28, 2018.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning on June 7, 2019, during an open ship event aboard USS INDEPENDENCE (LCS 2) as part of the Rose Festival at Portland, Or.

			Click here for more Photos.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the decommissioned INDEPENDENCE laid up at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash., on June 12, 2022.

The photos below were taken by me and show the decommissioned INDEPENDENCE laid up at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash., on July 15, 2024.

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