Freedom class

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Freedom on the quay wall
The Freedom of the quay wall
Overview
Type Littoral Combat Ship
units United StatesUnited States United States 9 in service Saudi Arabia 4 (planned)
Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia 
Namesake freedom
period of service

since 2008

Technical specifications
displacement

2800  ts

length

115.5 m

width

13.1 m

Draft

3.7 m

crew

15 to 50 permanent crew, 75 on duty

drive

two MT30 gas turbines , two diesel engines, Renk CODAG gearboxes

speed

45+ knots

The Freedom- class is the first class of littoral combat ships in the United States Navy .

history

Planning and construction

Address by CNO Vern Clark at the USS Freedom keel-laying ceremony

Littoral Combat Ships are intended to replace the Oliver Hazard Perry class frigates in the United States Navy , which have also lost much of their value due to the loss of their missile capacity. The Navy had two completely different designs built for the potential successor, both classes should consist of two units. In addition to the Freedom class, which are being built by Lockheed Martin at Marinette Marine and Bollinger Shipyards , there is a design by General Dynamics called the Independence class . All LCS will initially be based in the Pacific, with their home port being San Diego , California .

The US Navy's first ever littoral combat ship, the USS Freedom (LCS-1) , was commissioned in late 2004; the Freedom's successor , LCS-3 , was commissioned in mid-2006. The first unit was laid down in mid-2005, the The launch took place in autumn 2006. The construction of the second unit was stopped before the keel was laid at the beginning of 2007, as massive budget overruns caused the Navy increasing concern. Since the Navy and Lockheed were subsequently unable to agree on a new contract with fixed costs, Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter announced in April that the Navy would draw a construction freeze clause in the old contract due to the cost overruns. In November 2007, General Dynamics suffered the same fate. In 2009, however, the Navy announced plans to build another ship in the class, USS Fort Worth (LCS-3) . The keel of the Fort Worth was laid on July 11, 2009.

The Israeli Navy showed interest in adapting the design. The Pentagon has given Lockheed clearance to export the design. In Israel, a trade-off was made between this and other acquisitions of the Sa'ar-5 class . In July 2009, however, Israel rejected both alternatives and instead focused on the German MEKO design .

On December 31, the Navy placed another order after Lockheed may build up to ten more ships of the class; One each in the 2010 and 2011 financial years and two each from 2012 to 2015. However, from 2011 onwards, confirmation from the Congress is required for every new order. General Dynamics also received such an order for the Independence class .

costs

Originally, the construction of the first unit was supposed to cost around $ 220 million, for the second almost 200 million in construction costs were planned. There are also costs for the plans, tests and certifications and administration costs, as well as for the final equipment and subsequent construction costs. In February 2008, the Navy put the cost of building the Freedom at $ 471 million and the final cost at $ 631 million. In addition, there are around 100 million dollars for each module (see section technology ).

LCS-3 is expected to cost just under $ 549 million. However, this includes materials valued at $ 78 million that were purchased in 2007 for the former LCS-3. LCS-5 is expected to cost $ 438 million to build, plus around $ 25 million for equipment. On average, each of the ten ships ordered from 2010 will cost $ 440 million if all orders are carried out.

technology

hull

Front view of the Freedom

The Freedom class ships are around 115 meters long and 13 meters wide, and when fully loaded they displace around 2800 ts . The specialty is the shallow draft of only 3.70 meters.

drive

The units have two MT30 - gas turbines from Rolls-Royce and two diesel engines Colt-Pielstick (subsidiary of MAN AG ). Instead of a ship's propeller, a water jet propulsion system is used. With a total output of 36 megawatts, speeds of up to 50 knots are to be achieved.

Four Isotta Fraschini V1708 diesel engines with 750 kW each supply the ship, including on-board electronics and weapon systems, with electricity.

Armament

The armament of the Freedoms consists primarily of barrel weapons in ship turrets . Secondly, the ship carries guided missiles and torpedoes with it.

The installation of AGM-176 Griffin guided missiles to combat sea and land targets is planned.

Aft is a landing area for a helicopter, the hangar can accommodate two Sikorsky MH-60R / S Seahawk . It is also possible to launch drones .

Sensors

The TRS-3D multifunction radar from Hensoldt (US designation AN / SPS-75) is used as the primary system for recording sea and air targets on the first eight ships . It has a phased array antenna with integrated friend-foe detection and works in the G-band (4 to 6 GHz). The entire complex weighs around 2 tons and requires up to 20 kW of electrical energy. Cruise missiles can be detected from a distance of 15 to 20 km, fighters from 110 km. From ship 9, the USS Indianopolis , the improved TRS-4D (AN / SPS-80) with a range of up to 250 km is used.

The electronic reconnaissance is ensured by the WBR-2000 from Argon ST , which can detect and identify radio emissions in the frequency range from 2 to 18 GHz from a threshold of −65 dBm.

To capture and classification of underwater objects one comes AN / SQR-22 - towed array sonar from Lockheed Martin for use. This is an improved version of the AN / SQR-19 system that has already been installed on some Aegis ships.

Data connections of the Link 1 , Link 16 and CEC types are used for communication .

Mission profile

The Freedom class is specially designed for combat operations close to the coast, which is why the low draft, but also high speeds and a low radar profile , were important in the design. Depending on the intended use, the ships can be equipped with suitable modules.

units

United StatesUnited States United States

Identifier Surname Keel laying Launch Commissioning Whereabouts
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 2018 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 August 8, 2020 active
LCS-21 USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul February 23, 2018 June 15, 2019 in testing
LCS-23 USS Cooperstown August 14, 2018 19th January 2020 in testing
LCS-25 USS Marinette March 27, 2019 under construction
LCS-27 USS Nuntacket October 9, 2019 under construction
LCS-29 USS Beloit July 22, 2020 under construction
LCS-31 USS Cleveland instructed

Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia Saudi Arabia

The Saudi ships are so-called Multi-Mission Surface Combatants (MMSC). They have more powerful armament such as Harpoon Block II and Evolved Sea Sparrow missiles, a close-range RAM anti-aircraft system and a 76 mm gun. They will be part of the Eastern Navy in the Persian Gulf.

Identifier Surname Keel laying Launch Commissioning Whereabouts
ordered
ordered
ordered
ordered

Web links

Commons : Freedom class  - collection of images, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ navy.mil: Navy to Base First Four Littoral Combat Ship in San Diego. ( Memento of November 25, 2006 in the Internet Archive ).
  2. ↑ a b navy.mil: Navy Issues Stop Work Order for Littoral Combat Ship 3 (Engl.)
  3. ↑ navy.mil: Navy Terminates Littoral Combat Ship 3 ( Memento from June 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Eng.)
  4. ↑ Citing cost overruns, Navy cancels LCS 4 ( Memento from September 8, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) (English).
  5. ^ Jerusalem Post: Israel Navy eyes advanced US warship. ( Memento from July 6, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
  6. ↑ Jane's: Israel abandons LCS plan and eyes MEKO A-100 design. (English).
  7. ^ Navy Times: Cost of LCS rises again. ( Memento from September 5, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) (English).
  8. ↑ Navy Times: LCS costs fall from 1st order, still top target ( Memento from September 7, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) (English).
  9. ↑ United States Navy: Littoral Combat Ship Contract Award Announced. (English).
  10. ↑ Defense Blog: Littoral combat ship successfully launches Naval Strike Missile
  11. ↑ Usni News: Raytheon Awarded LCS Over-the-Horizon Anti-Surface Weapon Contract; Deal Could be Worth $ 848M
  12. ↑ a b naval-technology.com - Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) High-Speed ​​Surface Ship, USA
  13. ↑ EADS - TRS-3D ( Memento from January 8, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  14. ^ Norman Friedman: The Naval Institute guide to world naval weapons systems. 1997-1998. P. 294.
  15. ↑ TRS-4D AESA radar accepted by US Navy. Janes, August 26, 2019
  16. ↑ BuisnessWire - Fort Worth Littoral Combat Ship Launches, Equipped With Argon ST Threat Detection System. December 21, 2010. Accessed January 3, 2010.
  17. ↑ Argon ST - WBR-2000 ESM SYSTEM. ( Memento of January 18, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Accessed January 3, 2010 (English).
  18. ↑ Deagel.com - AN / SQR-20 , accessed January 4, 2011.
  19. ↑ http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/news/press-releases/2014/october/141018-lm-led-team-launches-future-uss-detroit.html ; accessed October 20, 2014
  20. ↑ http://lockheedmartin.com/us/news/press-releases/2015/july/150718-mst-lm-led-team-launches-the-future-uss-little-rock-lcs-9.html ; Retrieved July 21, 2015
  21. ↑ L'US Navy met en service son 5ème LCS du type Freedom. December 16, 2017. Retrieved December 16, 2017 .
  22. ↑ USS Wichita enters service. In: www.navaltoday.com. January 14, 2019, accessed on January 17, 2019 .
  23. ^ Lockheed Martin-Led Team Launches Future USS Billings. July 1, 2017, accessed July 2, 2017 .
  24. ↑ https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2020/08/10/us-navy-commissions-another-littoral-combat-ship-amid-renewed-push-to-fix-the-program/ ; accessed August 11, 2020
  25. ↑ Saudi Arabia to purchase upgunned US LCS Freedom-class variant ( Memento from May 26, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Saudi Arabia to purchase upgunned US LCS Freedom-class variant, Janes, May 26, 2017.