Combat ship 'USS Minneapolis St. Paul' rolled off assembly line in Wisconsin

MARINETTE, Wis. (FOX 9) - The USS Minneapolis Saint Paul was rolled off the assembly line in Marinette, Wisconsin Friday.

Photos submitted to FOX 9 show the massive combat ship being rolled out bearing the names of the Twin Cities after more than a year of construction.

According to the USS Minneapolis Saint Paul Commissioning Committee, the ship is scheduled to launch this summer at a private military ceremony at its location north of Green Bay. It is expected to be commissioned in the first half of 2020.

The Littoral Combat Ship, constructed by Lockheed Martin, is the 21st in its class to join the U.S. Navy.

In February 2018, officials with the Navy held a keel laying ceremony at the Fincantieri Marinette Shipyard as crews began construction on the hull.

There, the ship’s sponsor authenticated the keel by welding her initials onto a steel plate that was placed in the hull of the ship. The sponsor is Deputy Under Secretary of the Navy Jodi J. Greene, of Northfield.

The USS Minneapolis Saint Paul is being designed for coastal water battlespace and will be used for missions like mine-clearing, anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare.

This will be the second vessel in the U.S. Navy to be named after the Twin Cities. The SSN-708 submarine was the first USS Minneapolis Saint Paul. It was decommissioned in 2008.