USS Independence (LCS 2) underway for builder's trials
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GULF OF MEXICO (July 12, 2009) The littoral combat ship Independence (LCS 2) underway during builder’s trials. Builder’s trials are the first opportunity for the shipbuilder and the U.S. Navy to operate the ship underway, and provide an opportunity to test and correct issues before acceptance trials. (Video courtesy General Dynamics/Released by U.S. Navy on 24 July, 2009)
By CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS
Published: 18 Dec 2009 12:21
The U. S. Navy accepted its second Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Dec. 18 during a short ceremony at Mobile, Ala., marking the point where the ship is formally transferred from its builders to become Navy property.
The Independence (LCS 2) is the first ship built at Austal USA’s shipyard to an aluminum, trimaran hull design by a team led by General Dynamics. The 418-foot-long, 2,784-ton ship ran acceptance trials in mid-November in the Gulf of Mexico, during which the Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV) found the ships’ propulsion plant, sea-keeping and self-defense performance to be “commendable.” Speeds of 46 knots were reached during the trials.
Construction on the Independence began in November 2005, and the ship was launched in April 2008.
A commissioning ceremony for the Independence is scheduled for Jan. 16 at Mobile, and the ship is scheduled to leave Alabama in late February or early March to head for the fleet concentration area at Norfolk, Va., and a further series of systems trials. After post-delivery work, the LCS eventually will head west to its future homeport of San Diego, Calif.
General Dynamics is competing with a Lockheed Martin team to build as many as 51 more LCS ships. Each team is building a second ship, and the Navy is to make a winner-take-all decision in the spring or summer as to which design will form the basis of the remaining ships.
Lockheed’s Freedom (LCS 1), built by Marinette Marine in Marinette, Wis., was commissioned just over a year ago, and in early December the ship completed a Combat System Ship Qualification Trials (CSSQT) and Developmental Testing program where for the first time an LCS launched a Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM). Early next year the Freedom is to deploy to the Fourth Fleet in Latin America and then to the Pacific.
‘IT’S BEEN A LONG TIME’
Two 40-sailor crews are assigned to each LCS. Cmdr. Curt Renshaw, commanding officer of the Independence’s Blue Crew, noted that delivery of the ship has “been a long time” coming, but added that his crew now is looking to what happens next.
“We’re preparing to sail away,” he said during a Dec. 18 interview. “And if the call comes like it did for Freedom, we’re prepared to deploy.”
Renshaw’s Blue Crew will be the first to man the Independence, but about two-thirds of the Gold Crew also will be aboard next year for the transit to Norfolk.
“That will facilitate the ability to train both crews at the same time,” Renshaw said. “It’s a complex relationship we’ve worked hard to establish – two crews, one mission.”
Despite delivery, much remains to be done on the Independence.
“It’s going to take both crews to fit this ship out properly,” said Gold Crew commanding officer Cmdr. Michael Riley. “Both crews will decide where things will be stowed, and how certain arrangements are made.”
Acceptance of the ship also means each crew will begin to build up experience with this new type of warship.
“Right now, 90 percent of the experience is concentrated in us, the COs,” said Riley. “Each of us has spent over 200 hours on the bridge,” he said. “Now we need to get the crew up to those levels.”
The LCS is designed to be operated by a very small crew and embark up to 35 more sailors to run the aviation department and man mission modules that are adapted for specific warfare roles. Riley and Renshaw have experience operating small ships, having each commanded a mine countermeasures ship with a crew of about 80 sailors.
“On an MCM ship minesweeping is an all-hands evolution, it can go on for days,” said Riley. “We see a lot of that here on the LCS. There will be times when we do an all-hands experience for days. That mine experience will be invaluable.”
Renshaw agreed.
“The LCS takes what we learned on the minesweeper to the extreme,” he noted. “This ship is much bigger, much more complex, and has half the crew. With the all-hands attack, everybody’s got to pull their weight.”
And although the Independence is built to a completely different design than the Freedom, the new ship’s crews will benefit from some of the lessons-learned from the earlier ship’s delivery voyage from the Great Lakes to Norfolk.
“We’ve stayed very closely in touch with Freedom,” said Renshaw. “Some of the lessons learned apply directly to us, some are lessons more unique to Freedom. There were lots of lessons [to improve] communications connectivity. Having the ability to get what we need from the shore side is vital – everything from administration needs to supply orders. If you can’t communicate you’ve got a problem.
“Distance support has improved,” he said.
The delivery of the Independence follows the keel authentication ceremony Thursday of the Coronado (LCS 4), second ship of the Austal LCS design, also under construction in Mobile. Delivery of the Coronado is scheduled for June 2012.
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4426083&c=AME&s=SEA
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