Littoral Combat Ship

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Freedom- class littoral combat ship
Independence- class 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

  1. ↑ Sessions comments today regarding the Navy's proposal to purchase additional Littoral Combat Ship. Office of Jeff Sessions, November 3, 2010
  2. ↑ US Navy said to buy LCS warships from both bidders. ( Memento of October 23, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Reuters , November 3, 2010
  3. ↑ Christopher P. Cavas: Navy asks Congress to buy both LCS designs. NavyTimes , November 4, 2010
  4. ↑ United States Navy: Littoral Combat Ship Contract Award Announced. (engl.)
  5. ↑ CNO: Group Will Study New LCS Designs. (engl.)
  6. ^ LCS Crewing, Operating, Basing Schemes Are Changing. Defense News, September 11, 2016
  7. ↑ Esut.de European Security & Technology: Coastal combat ships of the US Navy are to be decommissioned
  8. ↑ US Navy About To Double Its LCS Fleet. Defense News, Aug. 8, 2015
  9. ↑ lockheedmartin.com , accessed October 20, 2014.
  10. ↑ lockheedmartin.com , accessed July 21, 2015.
  11. ↑ www.defensenews.com August 24, 2018: Two new littoral combat ships join the US fleet
  12. ↑ www.defensenews.com August 24, 2018: Two new littoral combat ships join the US fleet
  13. ↑ 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
  14. ^ USS Montgomery. Archived from the original on September 13, 2016 ; accessed on September 4, 2016 .
  15. ↑ bga-aeroweb.com: Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). Retrieved January 29, 2013.
  16. ↑ L'US Navy met en service son 5ème LCS du type Independence. June 13, 2017. Retrieved June 12, 2017 .
  17. ↑ Ohama. Archived from the original on September 13, 2016 ; accessed on September 4, 2016 .
  18. ↑ Janes, June 29, 2015 ( Memento of July 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  19. ^ Austal launches USS Manchester (LCS 14) at Alabama shipyard. Retrieved September 4, 2016 .
  20. ↑ 'Enthusiastic' local delegation takes part in keel laying ceremony for USS Tulsa. on Tulsaworld.com