USS Pierre (LCS-38)

USS Pierre (LCS-38) will be an Independence-class littoral combat ship of the United States Navy. She will be the second ship to be named for Pierre, South Dakota, the first being USS Pierre (PC-1141), a PC-461-class submarine chaser from World War II.

Design and construction
In 2002, the United States Navy initiated a program to develop the first of a fleet of littoral combat ships. The Navy initially ordered two trimaran hulled ships from General Dynamics, which became known as the Independence-class littoral combat ship after the first ship of the class, USS Independence (LCS-2). Even-numbered US Navy littoral combat ships are built using the Independence-class trimaran design, while odd-numbered ships are based on a competing design, the conventional monohull Freedom-class littoral combat ship. The initial order of littoral combat ships involved a total of four ships, including two of the Independence-class design. On 29 December 2010, the Navy announced that it was awarding Austal USA a contract to build ten additional Independence-class littoral combat ships.

Pierre is being built in Mobile, Alabama by Austal USA. Her was keel laid on 16 June 2023.