Littoral Combat Ships (LCS)

Re: LCS-1

delft said:

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03 July



Does this mean that operating these ships will be very much more expensive?

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Yes, but not anything too drastic. It's basically paying for are extra sailors on board, along with extra supplies.

Re: LCS-1

On the LCS one of the biggest concerns was it's small crew size would hinder fire fighting & damage control efforts. Here's a ship just slightly smaller than a OHP class FFG which has a crew of 200+. The LCS crew is only ..

LCSs were intended to operate with a core crew of 40 sailors, plus a mission module detachment of 15 and an aviation detachment of 25. Each LCS class — the Freedom (LCS 1) class from Lockheed Martin, and the Independence (LCS 2) class from General Dynamics/ Austal USA — was designed with a total of 75 or 76 berths, or racks in Navy parlance. The absence of overflow space means the ships frequently embark containers fitted out with racks, known as berthing modules and carried on the ships’ mission decks.

Accommodations on Freedom are particularly spacious, and all racks in the ships were originally limited to two-high arrangements. Designers of both LCS classes, however, anticipated an increase in berthing, and the racks were built to be convertible to three-highs.

No decision has yet been made about Independence, said Chris Johnson, a spokesman for Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA).

The manning plan for the LCS is relatively complex. Initially, each ship will have two 40-person crews — dubbed blue and gold — alternating about every four months. As the number of ships increases, a shift will be made to rotational crews, three for every two ships.

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Re: LCS-1

Not a "news" by any means, but I found this small movie interesting
[video=youtube;NS8BLdsXrNM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NS8BLdsXrNM[/video]

Re: LCS-1

navyreco said:

Not a "news" by any means, but I found this small movie interesting
[video=youtube;NS8BLdsXrNM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NS8BLdsXrNM[/video]

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Thanks Navyreco for that wonderful video. I visited the USS Constitution several years ago and it's a wonderful ship. At first I thought it was a large ship of the line man of war type, but it's a frigate alright, big one too. Old Ironside (her nickname) was built to last.

Re: LCS-1

A bit OT, but a bit on topic as well...

Yesterday in France, they floated an actual size (and 100% accurate, even the original construction process was used) replica of the Hermione frigate, the ship used by Lafayette to sail to the US and then assist "in the fight for US independence".

Official website:

We are rebuilding General Lafayette's frigate.
In the town of Rochefort, south west of France, a team of passionated people have undertaken a tremendous challenge The reconstruction of the Hermione, the ship on which La Fayette embarked in 1780, to bring help and support to the American insurgents.
Since its beginning, the construction site is a true living show place, open yearly to visitors. Once the Hermione is fully completed, it is planned to sail again on La Fayette's journey, from Rochefort to Boston, via the Franco-American historical stops along the eastern coast « The Lafayette trip

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It took 15 years... They still need to instal the masts, sails and outfit the interior... then after some tests, it will sail to Boston in 2015, and cruise down the US East coast as French - US cultural initiative.

[video=youtube;OhPd5D29JMw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhPd5D29JMw[/video]

Re: LCS-1

navyreco said:

A bit OT, but a bit on topic as well...

Yesterday in France, they floated an actual size (and 100% accurate, even the original construction process was used) replica of the Hermione frigate, the ship used by Lafayette to sail to the US and then assist "in the fight for US independence".

Official website:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

It took 15 years... They still need to instal the masts, sails and outfit the interior... then after some tests, it will sail to Boston in 2015, and cruise down the US East coast as French - US cultural initiative.

[video=youtube;OhPd5D29JMw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhPd5D29JMw[/video]

Click to expand...

This is an outstanding initiative and it sounds like it was started privately be a dedicated group of French citizens.

It will be a wonderful journey and I will keep track of it and perhaps try and make one of the stops over their on the East Coast when they do it. La Fayette and his story is pretty amazing and his influence helped the Colonists ultimately by bringing an entire French fleet and Army to America towards the end of the war. They were pivotal in helping win at Yorktown.

Re: LCS-1

Why do the USN call these ships "Littoral" Combat Ships if these ships are going to be stationed in places like the Persian Gulf and Singapore ? And how do you define the role of these ships in the USN ? I always find these ships (LCS-1 Freedom class) some what odd. It's too big to be a corvette (3000 ton) but too lightly armed to be a frigate and too small to be a LPD. And yet these ships seems to be designed to perform in some measures all of these tasks.

Re: LCS-1

Franklin said:

Why do the USN call these ships "Littoral" Combat Ships if these ships are going to be stationed in places like the Persian Gulf and Singapore ? And how do you define the role of these ships in the USN ? I always find these ships (LCS-1 Freedom class) some what odd. It's too big to be a corvette (3000 ton) but too lightly armed to be a frigate and too small to be a LPD. And yet these ships seems to be designed to perform in some measures all of these tasks.

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Because they are meant to operate in the more shallow waters close to shore or islands where larger combatants can't physically go.

With their mine hunting capabilities, their special ops capabilities, and their ASW capabilities, they are designed to conduct those operations in those waters.

With their mission modules (and the Independence class can carry an extra module with it so it can be outfitted for two major missions) they can be quickly configured to do any of these tasks within a day.

I personally believe they should have been designed to be multi-mission because in those waters you can face any of the threats. It would have made them a little heavier, but IMHO would have been well worth it. As it is, a couple of mine hunting LCSs will have to be escorted by probably both a ASuW and ASW warfare LCS to protect them.

BTW, though one of the posts on this thread was titled LCS...the thread is actually the "US Military News Thread". Perhaps the LCS specific posts should be moved to the LCS thread?

---------- Post added at 07:43 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:41 AM ----------

navyreco said:

A bit OT, but a bit on topic as well...

Yesterday in France, they floated an actual size (and 100% accurate, even the original construction process was used) replica of the Hermione frigate, the ship used by Lafayette to sail to the US and then assist "in the fight for US independence".

Official website:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

It took 15 years... They still need to install the masts, sails and outfit the interior... then after some tests, it will sail to Boston in 2015, and cruise down the US East coast as French - US cultural initiative.

[video=youtube;OhPd5D29JMw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhPd5D29JMw[/video]

Click to expand...

This is an outstanding initiative and it sounds like it was started privately be a dedicated group of French citizens.

It will be a wonderful journey and I will keep track of it and perhaps try and make one of the stops over there on the East Coast when they do it. La Fayette and his story is pretty amazing and his influence helped the Colonists ultimately by bringing an entire French fleet and Army to America towards the end of the war. They were pivotal in helping win at Yorktown.

Re: LCS-1

Jeff Head

Because they are meant to operate in the more shallow waters close to shore or islands where larger combatants can't physically go.

With their mine hunting capabilities, their special ops capabilities, and their ASW capabilities, they are designed to conduct those operations in those waters.

With their mission modules (and the Independence class can carry an extra module with it so it can be outfitted for two major missions) they can be quickly configured to do any of these tasks within a day.

I personally believe they should have been designed to be multi-mission because in those waters you can face any of the threats. It would have made them a little heavier, but IMHO would have been well worth it. As it is, a couple of mine hunting LCSs will have to be escorted by probably both a ASuW and ASW warfare LCS to protect them.

BTW, though one of the posts on this thread was titled LCS...the thread is actually the "US Military News Thread". Perhaps the LCS specific posts should be moved to the LCS thread?

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So the word littoral simply means it can operate in shallow littoral waters and not just defend and patrol the littoral waters of the US. And it's a multi purpose ship that can adapt it's self to what ever the situation and mission requires. Thanks.

Re: LCS-1

Franklin said:

So the word littoral simply means it can operate in shallow littoral waters and not just defend and patrol the littoral waters of the US. And it's a multi purpose ship that can adapt it's self to what ever the situation and mission requires. Thanks.

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Yep...it was never really intended to patrol American waters...that's the job of the US Coast Guard and their new classes of Offshore Patrol Vessels, the National Defense Cutters, etc.

Problem with the LCS is that although they are designed to do multi-functional tasks, they have to come back to a friendly port/base and swap out "mission packs" to do so. Which means the logisitics have to be in place to allow for it, and they'd best not run into a strongly armed anti-surface capable corvette while they are conducting anti-mining operations.

Much better, IMHO, to have made them true multi-mission frigates from the get go.

But, as I say, the Independence version can carry two mission packs at once, and it is likely that they will have to go out in groups of 3-4 for just this reason, so a couple are their to protect the ones not gen'ed up for anti-surface or anti-ASW warfare.