Austal USA has delivered the future littoral combat ship USS Tulsa (LCS 16) to the US Navy during a ceremony on 30 April. The commissioning of the ship, which completed acceptance trials in March, is planned in late 2018. 

USS Tulsa is the thirteenth littoral combat ship to be delivered to the navy and the eighth of the Independence variant to join the fleet. The vessel will be homeported in San Diego.

The LCS-class consists of the Freedom-variant and Independence-variant, designed and built by two industry teams; Lockheed Martin and Austal USA.