Their hulls crack and their engines have serious design flaws that cause frequent breakdowns. Why would the Coast Guard want them?
The cracking hull issue affects the Independence class LCS. This story is about the Freedom class LCS. It doesn't help that there were two simultaneous LCS programs, both of which failed.
The Freedom Class does have a problem combining the diesel and gas generator powerplants for full speed, but that is addressed in the article I posted a few posts above this one.
The Coast Guard doesn't need the high dash speed from the Gas Generator powerplant, and could remove them entirely, solving the combining gearbox issue.
The Coast Guard has done so in the past with another class of hand-me-down Navy ship that had powerplant combining issues. The rest of the Freedom Class would make an excellent Coast Guard cutter, and the Coast Guard is currently embarking on a mult-decade recapitalization of their fleet. Taking these ships from the Navy would save the taxpayers money, and would move up the timeline that the Coast Guard could retire their older cutters.
Their hulls crack and their engines have serious design flaws that cause frequent breakdowns. Why would the Coast Guard want them?
To keep our congressits happy with kickbacks.
Exactly right.