For most people, there is nothing like the first time – for anything. For the two crews of the USS Freedom, the first Littoral Combat Ship of the US Navy, that first time – their maiden deployment – is coming soon.

The USS Freedom is set to be deployed to the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) region. The vessel arrived at Naval Station Mayport in Florida on January 25, and almost immediately after its arrival, counter-illicit trafficking (CIT), damage control, and systems training kicked off.

The USS Freedom is manned by two rotational crews, “Blue” and “Gold”. Each crew is composed of 40 sailors who have already proven their competency across a wide range of skills, a requirement for anyone who will serve aboard an LCS. The vessel imposes limits on crew size, which necessitates having people who are skilled in multiple tasks.

Lt. Cmdr. Mark West of Imperial Beach, California, operations officer for the Gold Crew, gave the following statement in an article on the Navy web site on the training that the crew is undergoing prior to their maiden deployment: “This training is extremely important for Freedom and will help us prepare for the CIT mission we expect to perform while in the 4th Fleet area of operations.” He added further that the USS Freedom “can be an extremely formidable weapon in the war on drugs.”

The USS Freedom is the first of its kind under the Littoral Combat Ship program. It boasts of being “a fast, agile, mission-focused ship that demonstrates the latest in naval warfighting technology.”