USNI News Lawmakers Quiz SOUTHCOM’s Faller on Littoral Combat Ship Program April 14, 2021 7:24 PM The Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS Sioux City (LCS 11), transits the Caribbean Sea, April 10, 2021. Sioux City is deployed to the U.S. 4th Fleet area of operations to support Joint Interagency Task Force South’s mission, which includes counter-illicit drug trafficking missions in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. US Navy Photo Two lawmakers raised questions on the future of the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship during a Wednesday hearing, as the service continues to wrestle with a crucial design flaw, how it will use the ships operationally and retirements of early hulls in the class.