--- title: "Navy commissions the USS Kingsville, one of the last new littoral combat ships" description: "The new Independence-class vessel arrives in the Navy's surface fleet even as the service works to get rid of the troubled line of ships." date: "2024-08-24" modified: "2024-08-24" authors: - name: "Nicholas Slayton" job_title: "Contributing Editor" link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/nicholas-slayton.md" url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/navy-uss-kingsville-littoral-combat-ship/" categories: - "Military Branches" - "Navy" - "News" - "Ships" - "Tech & Tactics" --- # Navy commissions the USS Kingsville, one of the last new littoral combat ships ![The USS Kingsville at its commissioning ceremony on Aug. 24, 2024. (photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Nicholas V. Huynh/U.S. Navy)]() *The USS Kingsville at its commissioning ceremony on Aug. 24, 2024. (photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Nicholas V. Huynh/U.S. Navy)* The USS Kingsville is officially a part of the U.S. Navy. The ship was commissioned on Saturday, Aug. 24 at the Solomon P. Ortiz Center in Corpus Christi, Texas. The USS Kingsville, an Independence-class littoral combat ship, is the second-to-last of its type to be commissioned, with only the USS Pierre left to enter service out of the 19 total Independence-class ships. It’s the first ship in the Navy to bear the name, which honors Kingsville, Texas, where the Navy has an air station. “A ship commissioning is one of the ways the U.S. Navy keeps itself tied to the nation it serves. It’s why we name ships after cities and states. And what better moment to celebrate our long and intimate relationship than commissioning a ship named after Kingsville,” Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Financial Management and Comptroller Russell Rumbaugh said at the ceremony. “This ship will provide maritime security in each of our fleet operations. We in the Department of the Navy are proud of the littoral combat ships.” Despite what Rumbaugh said, the Navy has a troubled relationship with the ships. Even as the USS Kingsville joins the ranks of the Navy’s surface fleets, the littoral combat ship is on the way out. The Navy already is [decommissioning]() several vessels while also working on [selling]() multiple Freedom and Independence-class littoral combat ships to other nations’ navies. [**Subscribe to Task & Purpose Today**]()**. Get the latest military news and culture in your inbox daily.** The class of ship was meant to serve as a multipurpose vessel operating near coasts. It was designed with the goal of being able to target submarines and coastal defenses, while providing support to focus on land. The Navy describes littoral combat ships as “fast, optimally manned, mission-tailored surface combatants” but the program has been overrun with delays, high costs and malfunctions in service. They gained the “little crappy ships” nickname as a result. Worse, the ships found themselves left behind as the military shifts towards peer-to-peer strategies, rather than counterinsurgency. Recently the Navy said that several Independence-class littoral combat ships would [serve]() as part of a mine countermeasures force, using new upgrades to take out any underwater explosives. The USS Kingsville is set to go to Naval Station San Diego, currently home to more than a dozen littoral combat ships. ## The latest on Task & Purpose - [**Army fires**]() **Command Sergeant Major for Military District of Washington** - **Navy tells aircrews to question** [**‘inappropriate’ call signs**]() **after lewd flight name** - [**Army fires**]() **Command Sergeant Major of Fort Belvoir cyber unit** - **Seeking ‘warfighter mindset,’ Air Force basic trainees now** [**carrying rifles**]() **through boot camp** - **Marine training for** [**winter Olympics**]() **bobsled team while in Iraq** ## Author Nicholas Slayton is a contributing editor for Task & Purpose, covering conflict for over 12 years, from the Arab Spring to the war in Ukraine. His previous reporting can be found on the non-profit Aslan Media, The Atlantic, Al Jazeera, The New Republic, The American Prospect, Architectural Digest, The Daily Beast, and the Los Angeles Downtown News. You can reach him at nicholas@taskandpurpose.com or find him on Twitter @NSlayton and Bluesky at @nslayton.bsky.social. ### Author social links [Twitter]()