SINGAPORE - The United States Navy will deploy its first littoral combat ship (LCS) in Singapore from the second quarter of 2013, Singapore's Ministry of Defense said on Saturday.

Singapore's Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen conveyed the country's in-principle approval for the US request to deploy up to four LCS in a meeting with his US counterpart Leon Panetta, a joint statement said.

The four ships will be deployed in the city state "on a rotational basis," which means there could be up to four LCS in Singapore at any point of time, the Ministry of Defense said

It said the navies of the two countries are still working on details and arrangements of the deployment.

The LCS is a type of relatively small surface vessel intended for operations in the littoral zone where it is less desirable to deploy larger warships. With a flight deck and a hangar, the LCS is envisioned to be a networked, agile, stealthy surface combatant.

Each of the LCS will have a core crew of 40, but can have up to 75 men on board.

The Defense Ministry of Singapore said the LCS "will not be based in Singapore," nor will Singapore be a home port. The crew members will live on board the LCS throughout their deployment in Singapore.

The deployment of the LCS is in line with the Singapore-US 1990 Memorandum of Understanding and the 2005 Singapore-US Strategic Framework Agreement, which underlining "both sides' long- standing belief that the US military presence in the Asia- Pacific is beneficial for regional peace and stability," the ministry said.

Panetta was in Singapore for the 11th Asia Security Summit, or the Shangri-La Dialogue. He is scheduled to continue with his Asia tour, including stops in Vietnam and India.