Recently, the USS Montgomery, an Independence Class Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), established a new record. The ship broke down, suffering two unrelated engine failures only three days after being commissioned. The previous record had been set by the USS Milwaukee, a Freedom Class LCS, which suffered a total engine failure twenty days after commissioning. Unlike the Milwaukee, which required a tow to return to port, the Montgomery was able to limp into port under its own power.
This was the third LCS in three weeks to suffer major engine problems and the fifth within a year. We recently posted that the three Freedom Class LCS in service, each had suffered a major breakdown in the last year, achieving an unenviable 100% failure rate. The Independence Class is not far behind. Two weeks prior to the problems on the Montgomery, the Independence Class USS Coronado broke down on its first deployment. Overall of the seven LCS in service, only two have not suffered a major failure within the last year.
In light of these failures, earlier this month the the commander, Naval Surface Forces (NAVSURFOR), “ordered an engineering stand down for every [Littoral Combat Ship] crew to review procedures and standards for their engineering departments,” according to a statement by the Navy.
Nevertheless, the Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. John Richardson, does not seem to be worried. This week he was quoted as saying, “I think that overall, this program is on track. As with any program of this complexity, we have some very bright people who are making these decisions, designing this program, getting it to sea. But it’s really complicated. So while we have maybe a 90-percent solution, we’re going to learn. And that’s where we are.”
One of the reason that the program is so complicated is that the Navy is building two different designs of LCS. The ships, designed to operate in coastal waters, are slightly smaller than conventional frigates. The Freedom Class is a 358′ long conventional monohull design while the Independence Class is a 418′ long trimaran design. Both designs were intended to be converted for various duties with the installation of rapidly interchangeable mission modules.
While the Navy is obviously having serious problems with these two designs, they are also planning on building a third variation, a Fast Frigate (FF) version of the Freedom class. The frigate version will have more armour, better weaponry but lack the interchangeable module capability. A recent report by the General Accounting Office (GAO) concluded that the frigate variations was not a significant improvement over the the original LCS design.
The various LCS ships have been averaging around a half billion dollars each and the Navy currently plans on ordering around 40, down from original plans fro 52.
Admiral Richardson’s comment that “this program is on track” reminds me of the old joke about the man who jumps off the roof of a 50 story building, and is heard to say as he passes the 25 floor, “So far, so good.”
Admiral Richardson needs a new drug. And a court marshal.
Indeed and the crews clearly need training. One gets the impression that the problem starts with the luboil supply system. However being a deck officer and not an engineering officer one is not qualified to judge.
Good Watch.
Crew training is good but the problems with these ships are larger. They have already had problems with hull cracking, excessive corrosion, software glitches and electrical systems failures, all, or most, of which are not related to crew error. Some have also suggested that the combining gear on the Freedom Class is too complicated and easily damaged for ships of this type. Time will tell is they can work through all the problems. In the meantime, crew training never hurts.