Tuesday, August 30, 2016

U.S. Navy's Freedom-Class Littoral Combat Ships Continue To Break Down

The littoral combat ship USS Freedom (LCS 1) is underway conducting sea trials off the coast of Southern California. Freedom, the lead ship of the Freedom variant of LCS, is expected to deploy to Southeast Asia this spring. February 2013. Wikipedia

Military.com: Third Freedom-Class LCS Breaks Down in 12 Months

The littoral combat ship USS Freedom will need an engine rebuild or replacement after a seawater leak resulted in significant damage, Navy officials said.

The Freedom is the third ship in the Freedom class of LCS, built by Lockheed Martin Corp., to suffer an engine casualty in the last year. The news of the incident, which happened July 11, was announced by the Navy on Sunday night.

The Freedom, the first ship in its class, returned to its homeport at Naval Base San Diego, California, on July 13 under its own power to conduct repairs on an unrelated issue, officials with Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, said in a release.

While in port, personnel examined the leak, which happened at the seawater pump mechanical seal, allowing seawater to enter the engine lube oil system and damage the ship's second main propulsion diesel engine, officials said.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Mike Burleson (New Wars Blog) told me and his readers years ago that the LCS was a lemon .... sighhh .... it took a while Mike, but you have been proven right.

1 comment:

RussInSoCal said...

Too complex, too fragile and too reliant on tech for what crew used to do. Combine that with the multi-role aspects of its intended operations and you get the sea-going version of the F-35.