via Defense News...
A 6-inch crack in the hull of the littoral combat ship USS Freedom caused the ship to abort sea-keeping trials on Feb. 12 and return to its homeport of San Diego for repairs, the U.S. Navy confirmed March 18.Wow.
The crack, about three and a half feet below the waterline in a weld seam between two steel plates in the hull, allowed water to enter a void space in the ship, according to Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA). Flooding was contained, however, and, at a speed of about 8 knots, the vessel sailed about 600 miles to San Diego to begin repairs.
No comment on this one till I know more, but this isn't good.
again another piece of crap from the navy, lets get some of the JHSV or freedom fighter that can do the same things, these ships cant fight, they have very little to no offensive capabilities. Their only abilities is as a helopad and a small gun with a few miles range. they arent survivable in a medium or high threat environment, their only use may be anti-piracy by using module space to have helo born special ops.
ReplyDeleteI agree with jp, what's the point of these boats... I personally like the Combat Boat 90, especially with the AMOS system. What about the USS Pegasus (PHM-1), that was a really good system in Viet Nam, especially for littoral, really high speed, really good armament, leave the deep water to the subs. It seems like the US Navy doesn't know what to do with itself in the war on terrorism, except of course for the SEAL's, probably they're greatest asset and ace up their sleeve! I'd like to see a submersible USS Freedom and USS America, filled with F-35B's, V-22's, EFV's and about 800 Marines, that should take care of it!
ReplyDeleteJesus, Pegasus wasn't used in Vietnam.
ReplyDeleteAluminum hull + high speed operations and testing + first in class + degradation of welding/shipbuilding skills = Craptacular ships. I don't even want to go into the CONOPS for this class. Have we learned NOTHING about requiring one type to fill every requirement.
ReplyDeleteThe irony here is that the failure was "between two steel plates"... and yet this ship gets flak for being aluminum.
ReplyDeleteYou don't innovate by doing the same things you've done for decades. This ship is an attempt to do something differently, but like any other attempt to innovate in the last 100 years, its not easy.