Thirteen crew members from the future Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS St. Louis (LCS 19) arrived in its namesake city July 19, 2019, to engage with the community by highlighting the important mission of littoral combat ships and sharing the Navy’s story.

During their visit to the “Gateway City”, the crew will take tours of important landmarks, museums and industry leaders, and will meet with local leadership and public figures.

In addition, the ship’s crest will be unveiled July 23 at Soldiers Memorial Military Museum and at Busch Stadium July 26 during the St. Louis Cardinals vs. Houston Astros baseball game.

The future USS St. Louis is the seventh ship to bear the name of the city. The first St. Louis was a sloop of war, launched in 1828. It spent the majority of its service patrolling the coasts of the Americas to secure interests and trade. It also served as the flagship of the West Indies Squadron working to suppress piracy in the Caribbean Sea, the Antilles and the Gulf of Mexico.

Taking inspiration from its ancestor, the current St. Louis is designed to defeat littoral threats and provide access and dominance in coastal waters. As a fast, agile surface combatant, St. Louis will provide warfighting capabilities and operational flexibility to execute focused missions close to the shore, such as mine warfare, anti-submarine warfare and surface warfare.

St. Louis is built with modular design incorporating mission packages that can be changed out quickly for combat as needed. These mission packages are supported by detachments that deploy manned and unmanned vehicles, and sensors in support of mine, undersea and surface warfare missions.

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