First Littoral Combat Ship Gets Underway

[Jack Ray]

Finally.

Navy officials have been loathe to show off the new ships publicly, and shipyard visits by the media and independent analysts have been severely limited or not allowed at all.

If I were Navy officials, I would be embarrassed too.

First Littoral Combat Ship Gets Underway
By Christopher P. Cavas
DefenseNews.com
July 28, 2008

The U.S. Navy's first Littoral Combat Ship, the Freedom (LCS 1), left its pier for the first time Monday and moved into Lake Michigan to begin a series of underway builder's trials.

The first Littoral Combat Ship, the Freedom (LCS 1), left its pier for the first time Monday and will spend the next two weeks conducting trials in Lake Michigan, said Lockheed Martin spokesman Chip Eschenfelder. (LOCKHEED MARTIN)

"Freedom is now under way," said Joe North, director of Lockheed Martin's LCS program, in a statement.

The 378-foot long ship will spend the next two weeks conducting the trials, said Lockheed spokesman Chip Eschenfelder. During that time, engineers from Lockheed Martin, its shipbuilder, Marinette Marine, and other subcontractors will check out the ship's propulsion, communications, navigation and mission systems, as well as other ship systems, Eschenfelder said. The ship will not remain underway for the entire period, but will return to harbor or anchor for most nights.

If the builder's trials are successful, the Navy's Board of Inspection and Survey will then conduct acceptance trials to determine if the ship's systems meet standards. If all goes well, the ship should leave the Great Lakes later this year to head for its homeport in San Diego.

Marinette Marine and Lockheed have been working hard to prepare for the trials, which the shipbuilders had hoped to carry out last spring.

The LCS program, which originally envisioned a two-year construction period for the ships, has experienced multiple design and production difficulties, and Freedom is more than a year behind schedule. The ship's keel-laying was held in June 2005, and it was launched in September 2006.

Costs for the first-of-its-kind ship have risen dramatically. Projected in 2004 at $220 million, the price tag has more than doubled. Navy and Lockheed officials won't reveal current numbers, but sources have said the price for the first ship is at least $500 million.

Delays and cost growth have also affected Lockheed's competitor in the LCS program, the General Dynamics Independence (LCS 2), which is under construction at Austal USA in Mobile, Ala.

Cost growth and a desire to renegotiate the construction contracts caused the Navy last year to cancel construction of each company's second ship, and for now, the Freedom and Independence are the only LCS ships under construction. Three more have been approved or requested, but contracts have yet to be awarded.

Navy officials have been loathe to show off the new ships publicly, and shipyard visits by the media and independent analysts have been severely limited or not allowed at all.

At 2,862 tons full load, the Freedom represents the first of what the Navy hopes will become a total of 55 ships. The LCS is intended to fight in waters near shore and carry out a variety of missions, including fighting off surface ships, hunting submarines and clearing out mines.

Once the ships are completed, the Navy will carry out competitive trials of the Freedom and Independence and decide whether to build more of each design or concentrate on just one.

[Gerarddm]

Don't like this ship at all. Embarassed indeed.

[Werner]

Has the Navy bothered to make the "mission modules" for these empty ships yet?

The idea is that containerized or palletized mission modules can be quickly fit to specialize the ship for minehunting, ASW, special ops, etc. Without these modules, this is a large speedboat with point-defense weapons and utterly no mission.

I can't for the life of me figure out why you would send a surface ship on a special ops mission when there are many submarines equipped for this mission.

[chuck]

Has the Navy bothered to make the "mission modules" for these empty ships yet?

The idea is that containerized or palletized mission modules can be quickly fit to specialize the ship for minehunting, ASW, special ops, etc. Without these modules, this is a large speedboat with point-defense weapons and utterly no mission.

I bet the "comfort capsule" - purchased by the Air Force using "counter-terrorism" funds, color coordinated at an additional tax payer expense of 68,000 dollars per capsule, designed to provide high-level Air Force and civilian "leadership" with travel comfort superior to that attainable in commercial Transatlantic 1st class passenger flights, but which provides no facility beyond what is expected in coach class for the said leadership to actually do any work during the travel - will not only fit inside, but is already perfectly integrate with, the littoral combat ship.

[img]
http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn ... 703168.jpg [/img]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 03161.html

[Werner]

Cheez. Can't they just fly Virgin Atlantic "upper class"?

[Timmy C]

At least LCS 2 has its gun and RAM on...and looks much more interesting (Pic from Navsource):

[Werner]

Looks like an uncomfortable ride anywhere but in the Maui Channel. Must be neck-snappingly stiff when making a forced beat into the seas.

[Gerarddm]

Those comfort modules are just another indicator of how the Air Force has lost its way. Migod. How DARE they use counterterrorism funds. Miserable creatures.

[Werner]

Those comfort modules are just another indicator of how the Air Force has lost its way. Migod. How DARE they use counterterrorism funds. Miserable creatures.

If they don't spend the money this year, they get less next year. If you don't like this, you should see what you're local school district is up to with your money.

It isn't pretty, I can assure you.

[Gone Asiatic]

At least LCS 2 has its gun and RAM on...and looks much more interesting (Pic from Navsource):

Methinks a WWII FLETCHER would send this thing packing!

[MartinJQuinn]

Guys,

Try not to include the picture when responding with "quotes".

What a weird looking ship! What's the purpose of the "wings"?

[Ultimo Tiger]

I must admit it does look quite cool although the first one looks awful. Maybe they should have just built this one and bought another Carrier or something.

[Werner]

This particular variant is the trimaran.

As I recall, the shape was popular in the smooth South Seas, not so much in the ones plied by King Knute's battle fleet.

[goldenpony]

The Grumman version is totally different than the Lockheed version. Both as listed as taking sea state 4, which is pretty rough.

The Grumman version to me is a little too different looking. But, the tri hull would be very stable.

LSC1 is busy with sea trials in Lake Michigan. Too bad LCS3 and 4 ran so far over budget.

Many people hack the ships. I think they are a good positive step in the right direction, but costs need to be really reigned in.

[Werner]

So, what characteristics of either LCS make them cost more than the French La Fayette? The cost of LCS4 as described by Globalsecurity approached that of a Burke. For a ship with an operational range at full speed of less than 1,000 miles....

Something besides looking "neat" has to be there for the taxpayer.

BTW, from what I've read nobody can pinpoint where the high speed requirement came from. The Navy currently maintains it doesn't need the LCS' top speed.

The Navy sites feature all sorts of bravado about how LCS compliments DDG-1000's capabilities. I frankly don't see the compliment between a giant missile cruiser and a specialist short-range ship except where they are both ostensibly stealthy. Now that DDG-1000 is history, perhaps what is left of the LCS idea should be allowed a justified and merciful death, too.

[Gerarddm]

Haven't seen a winged keel like that since Australia won the Auld Mug. But what struck me after a second look was that the ship is balancing on that central keel- no shoring anywhere. Wow. Some brave souls there...

[chuck]

So, what characteristics of either LCS make them cost more than the French La Fayette? The cost of LCS4 as described by Globalsecurity approached that of a Burke. For a ship with an operational range at full speed of less than 1,000 miles....

Lack of economy of scale to name one. If you are willing tosell 20 LCS to 4 relatively minor Navies, the unit price will come down as well. But of course such a liberal Elswick model of warship development would upset many people.

[chuck]

A major advantage of trimaran is low wake and reduced vulnerability to wake homing torpedoes, which otherwise is vulnerable to no known countermeasure.

[Werner]

US Navy sees cost of LCS ships reaching $550 mln
Thu Jul 31, 2008 11:37pm BST

WASHINGTON, July 31 (Reuters) - New shore-hugging combat ships being built by Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and General Dynamics Corp (GD.N: Quote, Profile, Research) are now expected to cost 2.5 times the initial price tag of $220 million, a top U.S. Navy official told lawmakers on Thursday.

That would amount to a price tag of $550 million for the new small, fast Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), which is designed to counter coastal threats, including floating mines, diesel submarines and speedboats driven by guerrillas.

Vice Adm. Barry McCullough, deputy chief of naval operations, gave the new estimate for the ship's cost at a hearing held by the House Armed Services seapower subcommittee.

Lockheed and General Dynamics are each building the first of two different designs for the new ship class. They are now bidding for work on the next three ships, and the Navy expects to award a contract later this year.

Last year the Navy restructured the program and canceled orders with both General Dynamics and Lockheed for a second ship after it was unable to secure fixed-price deals with the companies for those ships.

The program ran into cost problems early on, partly because the Navy implemented tough new requirements for military ships that had a big impact on the contractors' cost estimates.

McCullough said the LCS program was making good progress after the restructuring, and Lockheed's trials of the first LCS ship in Lake Michigan, near the shipyard in Wisconsin where the ship was built, were going well.

"We're very pleased with how the builder's trials are going on that ship," McCullough told the hearing.

Defense consultant Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute noted that the lead ship or ships in a new class always cost more, but that price would drop once the Navy starting building the new ships at a faster rate.

The Navy ultimately plans to buy 55 of the littoral ships, a key component of its plan to expand the fleet from 280 ships to 313.

"The cost of the warships will eventually be below $300 million each," Thompson said. Those estimates do not include specialized military equipment that the Navy is buying separately for the new class of ships.

[Gone Asiatic]

What are the cost estimates of these edsalls once the (as of yet undesigned) mission modules are factored in?

As I posted before, an WWII era destroyer could send this thing to the bottom in short order, unless it runs away.

Not bad for 500 million bucks, eh?