Littoral Combat Ship
Littoral Combat Ships ( LCS ; German ships for coastal combat ) are a new type of warship of the United States Navy , which was designed in view of the changed threat situation for asymmetrical warfare in the enemy coastal apron. In total (as of 2014) 32 units of two different classes are to be procured. In the US Navy ship hierarchy, the LCS replace the Oliver Hazard Perry class frigates .
Task profile
The United States Navy is currently facing a new area of responsibility and operation. In the fight against terrorism , large aircraft carrier groups , on which the Navy largely relies, are rather out of place. In order to cope with tasks near the coast, such as intelligence reconnaissance, dropping and picking up special units, escorting landing ships or helicopter carriers , a new class of ship must be created. These ships must have a reduced radar profile and also have optical (e.g. dazzle camouflage paintwork from the First World War , which is intended to disguise the contours of the ship) and thermal camouflage devices (e.g. exhaust gases cooled with seawater). In addition, it must have the appropriate firepower and a shallow draft to be able to sail near the coast.
In other navies, units that are supposed to fulfill comparable task profiles are mostly managed either as corvettes or patrol boats .
Program in crisis
Originally, the LCS was priced at $ 220 million per unit. In 2008 the Navy raised its cost estimate to 600 million. Due to this cost explosion, two of the four originally planned ships were initially canceled. In addition, the commissioning of the first two ships should be delayed by 18 months. A Freedom-class unit was to be built by Lockheed Martin and an Independence-class unit by General Dynamics . In late 2008, the United States Congress put a cost cap of $ 460 million per unit and started a new tender. General Dynamics offered to build LCS-4 under these conditions and received the order in May 2009.
On September 16, 2009, the US Navy announced that it would test the prototypes by the end of 2010 and decide in fiscal 2010 which of the designs would be used to purchase two more ships.
In November 2010, the Navy until 2015, both of which ruled Freedom Class and from the Independence class to order ten pieces. A corresponding request was submitted to the US Congress in November 2010. The average cost per ship is said to be $ 440 million if all orders are carried out.
After 52 units were planned in the meantime, the program now only envisages 32 ships of the two previous classes. It has not yet been decided which type of ship will be purchased afterwards.
A program review carried out in 2016 led to the following decisions: Instead of three crews for two boats, introduction of the two-crew concept analogous to the submarines at the end of 2016, with each crew only assuming one role per embarkation and no longer exchanging the mission modules become. The Freedom class is based in Mayport and the Independence class in San Diego. The four original specimens will in due course become training ships and ships 5 to 28 will each be combined into three four-person divisions, with the four units of a division each receiving the same mission module.
Decommissioning
In July 2020, the Chief of Naval Operations , Admiral Michael M. Gilday announced that the first four ships will be decommissioned in March 2021. The reason given was the high cost of the upcoming modernization of the four ships. The Navy decided to use this money elsewhere, e.g. B. to invest in the development of the new FFG (X) class frigates .
List of Littoral combat ships
As of October 2019, the US Navy is planning a total of 35 littoral combat ships, 16 of which will be of the Freedom class and 19 of the Independence class .
Freedom class
Identifier | Surname | Keel laying | Launch | Commissioning | Whereabouts (home port) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
LCS-1 | USS Freedom | June 2, 2005 | September 23, 2006 | November 8, 2008 | active |
LCS-3 | USS Fort Worth | July 11, 2009 | 4th December 2010 | 22nd September 2012 | active |
LCS-5 | USS Milwaukee | October 27, 2011 | 18th December 2013 | November 21, 2015 | active |
LCS-7 | USS Detroit | November 8, 2012 | October 18, 2014 | October 22, 2016 | active |
LCS-9 | USS Little Rock | June 27, 2013 | July 18, 2015 | December 16, 2017 | active |
LCS-11 | USS Sioux City | 19th February 2014 | January 30, 2016 | 17th November 2017 | active |
LCS-13 | USS Wichita | February 9, 2015 | 17th September 2016 | January 12, 2019 | active |
LCS-15 | USS Billings | November 2, 2015 | July 1, 2017 | 3rd August 2019 | active |
LCS-17 | USS Indianapolis | 18th July 2016 | April 18, 2018 | October 26, 2019 | active |
LCS-19 | USS St Louis | 17th May 2017 | 15th December 2018 | in testing | |
LCS-21 | USS Minneapolis-St. Paul | February 22 | June 15, 2019 | in testing | |
LCS-23 | USS Cooperstown | August 14, 2018 | under construction | ||
LCS-25 | USS Marinette | March 27, 2019 | under construction | ||
LCS-27 | USS Nantucket | 9th October | under construction | ||
LCS-29 | USS Beloit | instructed | |||
LCS-31 | USS Cleveland | instructed |
The four Freedom Class ships ordered for Saudi Arabia are so-called “Multi-Mission Surface Combatants” (MMSC). They have more powerful armament such as Harpoon Block II and Evolved Sea Sparrow missiles, a short-range RAM air defense system and a 76 mm gun. They will be part of the Eastern Navy in the Persian Gulf.
Independence class
Identifier | Surname | Keel laying | Launch | Commissioning | Whereabouts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
LCS-2 | USS Independence | January 19, 2006 | April 26, 2008 | January 16, 2010 | active |
LCS-4 | USS Coronado | December 17, 2009 | January 14, 2012 | 5th April 2014 | active |
LCS-6 | USS Jackson | August 5, 2011 | December 14, 2013 | 5th December 2015 | active |
LCS-8 | USS Montgomery | June 25, 2013 | August 6, 2014 | September 10, 2016 | active |
LCS-10 | USS Gabrielle Giffords | April 16, 2014 | February 26, 2015 | June 10, 2017 | active |
LCS-12 | USS Omaha | February 18, 2015 | 20th November 2015 | 3rd February 2018 | active |
LCS-14 | USS Manchester | June 29, 2015 | May 12, 2016 | May 26, 2018 | active |
LCS-16 | USS Tulsa | January 11, 2016 | March 16, 2017 | 16th February 2019 | active |
LCS-18 | USS Charleston | June 28, 2016 | September 14, 2017 | 2nd March 2019 | active |
LCS-20 | USS Cincinnati | April 10, 2017 | May 22, 2018 | 5th October 2019 | active |
LCS-22 | USS Kansas City | 15th November 2017 | 19th October 2018 | in testing | |
LCS-24 | USS Oakland | 20th July 2018 | July 21, 2019 | in testing | |
LCS-26 | USS Mobile | December 14, 2018 | under construction | ||
LCS-28 | USS Savannah | 20th September 2019 | under construction | ||
LCS-30 | USS Canberra | instructed | |||
LCS-32 | USS Santa Barbara | instructed | |||
LCS-34 | USS Augusta | instructed | |||
LCS-36 | USS Kingsville | instructed | |||
LCS-38 | USS Pierre | instructed |
The first units are all stationed in San Diego.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sessions comments today regarding the Navy's proposal to purchase additional Littoral Combat Ship. Office of Jeff Sessions, November 3, 2010
- ↑ US Navy said to buy LCS warships from both bidders. ( Memento of October 23, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Reuters , November 3, 2010
- ↑ Christopher P. Cavas: Navy asks Congress to buy both LCS designs. NavyTimes , November 4, 2010
- ↑ United States Navy: Littoral Combat Ship Contract Award Announced. (engl.)
- ↑ CNO: Group Will Study New LCS Designs. (engl.)
- ^ LCS Crewing, Operating, Basing Schemes Are Changing. Defense News, September 11, 2016
- ↑ Esut.de European Security & Technology: Coastal combat ships of the US Navy are to be decommissioned
- ↑ US Navy About To Double Its LCS Fleet. Defense News, Aug. 8, 2015
- ↑ lockheedmartin.com , accessed October 20, 2014.
- ↑ lockheedmartin.com , accessed July 21, 2015.
- ↑ www.defensenews.com August 24, 2018: Two new littoral combat ships join the US fleet
- ↑ www.defensenews.com August 24, 2018: Two new littoral combat ships join the US fleet
- ↑ janes.com ( Memento from May 26, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Saudi Arabia to purchase upgunned US LCS Freedom-class variant. Janes, May 26, 2017
- ^ USS Montgomery. Archived from the original on September 13, 2016 ; accessed on September 4, 2016 .
- ↑ bga-aeroweb.com: Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). Retrieved January 29, 2013.
- ↑ L'US Navy met en service son 5ème LCS du type Independence. June 13, 2017. Retrieved June 12, 2017 .
- ↑ Ohama. Archived from the original on September 13, 2016 ; accessed on September 4, 2016 .
- ↑ Janes, June 29, 2015 ( Memento of July 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Austal launches USS Manchester (LCS 14) at Alabama shipyard. Retrieved September 4, 2016 .
- ↑ 'Enthusiastic' local delegation takes part in keel laying ceremony for USS Tulsa. on Tulsaworld.com