The ship, which was designed to serve for 25 years, is one of the Freedom-class variants that the Navy is mothballing early. The littoral combat ship Sioux City cost $460 million and was retired after less than five years of service. The ship was commissioned in November 2018. The ship's blue and gold crews took turns manning the ship during the lengthy cruise. One F-16 Fighting Falcon that responded to the unresponsive Cessna made the jump to supersonic speed, though three others were also authorized to do so. The littoral combat ship was was delivered to the Navy in September and is based in Mayport, Florida. No one was injured in Saturday's mishap but the ship suffered damage above the waterline, officials said. A provision in the FY23 defense bill calls on U.S. Southern Command to study the feasibility of permanently assigning LCSs to the combatant command. “This is a devastating loss to our community and all who knew him." Officials said they are confident the mishap did not involve the ship's combining gear, an issue plaguing the Freedom-class LCS fleet. Load More