Posted on 04/05/2012 8:57:15 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Smaller Navy Ship Has a Rocky Past and Key Support
MOBILE, Ala. — The Navy’s newest ship is designed to battle Iranian attack boats, clear mines from the Strait of Hormuz, chase down Somali pirates and keep watch on China’s warships. The ones built here even look menacing, like Darth Vader on the sea.
“It’s going to scare the hell out of folks,” said Representative Jo Bonner, the Alabama Republican who represents Mobile and is one of the ship’s biggest boosters in Congress.
Mr. Bonner acknowledged that the ship had needed a “tweak” here and there — his allusion to one of the most tortured shipbuilding programs in Navy history, a decade-long tale of soaring costs, canceled contracts and blown deadlines.
One of the two $700 million ships completed so far has had a major leak and crack in its hull, while the other is at sea, testing equipment that is failing to distinguish underwater mines from glints of light on the waves. More ominously, a report late last year by the Pentagon’s top weapons tester said the ship “is not expected to be survivable in a hostile combat environment.”
But for better or worse, the Pentagon and the Obama administration are embracing the Littoral Combat Ship as the future of naval warfare and just what is needed to meet 21st-century threats.
Able to operate on the high seas and along shallow coastlines (the “littorals”), the fast, maneuverable ship is central to President Obama’s strategy of projecting American power in the Pacific and the Persian Gulf. It adds a relatively small and technologically advanced ship — part of what former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld envisioned as a lean, proficient military — to America’s traditional blue
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
That’s a mean looking ship. And it’s ours, which is a good thing.
These "ships" are underarmed, short of range and far, far too expensive for what little firepower they have.
A billion bucks for 2,200 tons that cannot sink another ship, take a hit or down a high-flying jet.
STOOPID.
On top of that, this design promises “modularity,” which means that it can be dynamically reconfigured depending on the battle situation. Apparently, this is a total pipe dream where we have been way oversold on what is feasible.
You can put Aegis and VLS on these and they carry the 76mm gun. That COULD be upgraded to the 5inch/62 cal gun carried by the Burkes.
It's ludricrous the USN is wedded to the LCS and I'm CERTAIN the Surface Warfare Officers now at sea would much rather have the Ingalls Frigate.
Certain.
“...not expected to be survivable in a hostile combat environment.”
Ha, show me any ship that is survivable? How did that unsinkable Titanic work out?
Of the many, many flaws and failures of the LCS, the survivability issue is indeed a bit overblown.
Pretty much any modern combatant will be sunk by a heavyweight torpedo, and rendered combat-ineffective by any sort of missile hit.
I always have to laugh at the oft-mentioned “Somali Pirate Chasing” mission. You’ll never see the LCS doing that because it has such poor endurance.
I'd prefer the LCS was Chinese and not ours.
It's a matter of degree. Some warships are tough. Others are eggshells armed with sledgehammers. The LCS is an eggshell armed with a tackhammer.
What we need is something to replace the Perrys, that can also fight in the litorals but not give up the Air, ASW, and ASuW capabilities that the LCS have to switch out to obtain at any given time.
In the US Naval Institute Proceedings for this month they had a great discussion about this and the proposal for a 4,500t FFG with the two Harpoon cannister launchers, an MK-41 VLS, a 76mm or 127mm gun, a couple of 25-40mm auto cannons for secondary guns, a RAM launcher (21 cell variety) and a hanger for a full sized Lamps III helo.
Sweet looking FFG and something we should build in some numbers IMHO.
The Chinese are doing so and have already built 16 of the following in the last 6-7 years and are building more...as well as pumping out modern DDGs about as fast.
The French designed Formidable class frigates (operated by Singapore) and a new class of Aegis-equipped frigates built by Spain for Norway are good starting points for the kind of medium combatant.
Probably will not be an AEGIS vessel. Displacement goes up as does the cost.
Probabaly will contain cooperative engagement capabilities so that a Burke can perform the coop if necessary...but these will be more like the Perrys. Good, all-round multi-purpose combatants, able to operate effectively as picket escorts for CSG or Phibrons, able to perform well in a SAG able to support LCS vessels in the littorals, or able to do stand-alone assignments in medium risk areas.
U.S.S. OBAMA (Powered by Algae)
I had a chance to spend some time on HMAS PERTH which is fitted with the new CEAFAR/CEAMOUNT radars. They don’t weigh much but the performance is outstanding. Better yet it is very easily scalled up (they are modular so just add more tiles).
The Yamato wae the most powerful battleship afloat, and it was destroyed very, very, quickly.
As Dundee described, the new Australian radar and the Israeli EL/M-2248 are excellent for lighter ships if you are looking primarily for anti-air and anti-cruise missile capability.
I’d prefer the LCS was Chinese and not ours.
Why?
I’d prefer the LCS was Chinese and not ours.
Why?
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