Boatnerd Discussion Forum

KenH wrote:Here is the status report on the LCS roster:

1. In port and waiting for a dry-dock berth to open up after catastrophic engine failure. Unavailable.
2. On leave from the fleet and serving as a test bed for MCM mission modules in the Gulf of Mexico, with contractors in control. Unavailable.
3. En route to San Diego after emergency repairs after a catastrophic transmission failure, for a further "planned maintenance availability". Unavailable.
4. Headed to a "planned maintenance availability" after repairs following shock trials. Unavailable.
5. Undergoing shock tests after repairs following total transmission failure, then headed to a "planned maintenance availability". Unavailable.
6. In Pearl Harbor for inspection and repairs following transmission failure while en route to Singapore. Unavailable.
7. Pending completion and/or acceptance post sea trials. Unavailable.
8. Ditto.

Status of mission packages: under development.
Number of ships fit for duty: 0

North of 2.5 BILLION Dollars of Fail, 8 years after commissioning the first one. And they could not fight a single peer anywhere on this planet. They couldn't fight a 1942 Elco PT boat

You can thank defense industry lobbyists for all that. The waste is amazing while they and (many) contractors laugh all the way to the bank and the yacht in the Hamptons. (Yes, I've served and seen the inefficiencies). Not trying to derail the thread at all...but it just seems to get worse.

A Elco can't hold a candle to these ships, but these problems should have worked themselves out by now.

This one-ship-does-all concept is a poor excuse to replace minesweepers, patrol boats, frigates, and other role as a well balanced navy is key to our security.

Marinette Marine is a key cog in what's left of our industry in this region. I hope they can iron out these issues so they can complete the contract and keep those workers busy. Some bean counters thought they could combine all these ships into one and cut down costs of crew and maintenance, but it has ended up costing more money fixing the massive problems than it would have to keep the Oliver Hazard Perry Class in service for a few years more along with an actual frigate replacement.

Here is the status report on the LCS roster:

1. In port and waiting for a dry-dock berth to open up after catastrophic engine failure. Unavailable.
2. On leave from the fleet and serving as a test bed for MCM mission modules in the Gulf of Mexico, with contractors in control. Unavailable.
3. En route to San Diego after emergency repairs after a catastrophic transmission failure, for a further "planned maintenance availability". Unavailable.
4. Headed to a "planned maintenance availability" after repairs following shock trials. Unavailable.
5. Undergoing shock tests after repairs following total transmission failure, then headed to a "planned maintenance availability". Unavailable.
6. In Pearl Harbor for inspection and repairs following transmission failure while en route to Singapore. Unavailable.
7. Pending completion and/or acceptance post sea trials. Unavailable.
8. Ditto.

Status of mission packages: under development.
Number of ships fit for duty: 0

North of 2.5 BILLION Dollars of Fail, 8 years after commissioning the first one. And they could not fight a single peer anywhere on this planet. They couldn't fight a 1942 Elco PT boat

I found this link-sort of the same information but a different slant on it.

http://gcaptain.com/u-s-navy-moves-to-s ... mid-flaws/


By Tony Capaccio

(Bloomberg) — Confronted with equipment breakdowns and harried crews, the U.S. Navy is moving to simply and stabilize operations of its troubled Littoral Combat Ship.

In its effort to revamp the $29 billion program, the service will use the first four ships for more extensive testing, reduce the rotation of crew members and de-emphasize the swapping of missions and equipment that was supposed to be a hallmark of the vessels.

“When I took a step back,” visited vessels and talked to sailors “I saw complexity, I saw instability” and saw commanders “pulled in 15 different directions,” Vice Admiral Tom Rowden, chief of Naval Surface Forces, said in an interview at the Pentagon after a briefing Thursday for reporters.

The ship, built in two versions by Lockheed Martin Corp. and Austal Ltd. and designed to operate in shallow coastal waters, has been criticized for its reliability flaws, limited combat power and uncertain ability to survive in combat.

Among steps Rowden announced:

To improve esprit de corps, the Navy will reduce to two from three the number of 70-member crews that will be rotated on and off ships every four to five months so they will spend more time on a vessel. The ships will be organized under divisions focusing on just one of three major missions — mine detection, land attacks and submarine-hunting. The original concept for the Littoral Combat Ship was for equipment “modules” that could be swiftly switched out as needed, an idea that so far has looked better on the drawing board than in operation. Each sailor involved in engineering on board a ship will be tested and retrained.

“The Navy needs to do this because the LCS is different from previous classes of Navy surface combatants, and because the LCS program was initiated years ago under a rapid-acquisition strategy, which left little time back then to work these issues out,” Ronald O’Rourke, the naval forces analyst for the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, said in an e-mail.

“As the class expands and matures, the Navy will continue to refine its concept for how to crew, operate, and maintain these ships,” O’Rourke said.

Rowden was directed in February to undertake the program review — at least the fifth since 2012 — partly because two of the first vessels experienced propulsion-system failures, in December with the USS Milwaukee and in January with the USS Fort Worth. The Fort Worth was sidelined in port in Singapore for eight months.

Two more vessels experienced failures in July and August.

Rowden said it was timely to review the program as deliveries of vessels are set to accelerate. Six of 28 ships now planned have been delivered.

According to defense-aerospace.com the Navy is giving up on the LCS and turning the first 4 into training ships.

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/articl ... lures.html

Here's another link about the future USS Detroit (LCS 7) and other ships in the Freedom and Independence variants programs.

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/articl ... -ship.html