Mobile-built Austal LCS stranded in Singapore (US Navy ship)
al com ^ | 2/22/17 | Harress
Posted on 3/16/2017, 10:47:51 AM by pabianice
An Austal-built Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) and crew are stranded in Singapore because of a change in training standards propelled by a series of recent engineering breakdowns throughout the LCS fleet.
The USS Coronado, built in Mobile nearly five years ago, deployed to the Pacific Rim in June last year to relieve the LCS Fort Worth. The Coronado and its crew were supposed to arrive back in the home port of San Diego by Thanksgiving but could now end up being abroad for an indefinite period as they wait for a relief crew to be trained to the new Naval engineering standard.
The deployment is on schedule to be one of the Navy’s longest in decades, while relatives of the sailors told the Navy Times that it has caused morale issues among crew members and placed pressure on families.
“They were being told April, now they are being told mid-to-late May,” one of the family members told Navy Times Monday in an interview. “Truth seems to be that the replacement crew has made little-to-no progress.”
An astute move would be to install a team of security troops on the stranded ship; off load ship's company to "wherever they want to go."
Morale would improve, and it would signal the rest of the Fleet that there's a new "Sea Lord" on watch!
Just this "Mustang" (former enlisted) Officer's opinion.