Navy’s LCS program advances

[unhappycamper]

The Independence (LCS 2) is seen here at her Mobile, Ala., shipyard.


Navy’s LCS program advances
By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday May 1, 2008 6:06:07 EDT

The second Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), USS Independence, has been launched after a complex operation in Mobile, Ala.

The ship first saw the sun April 26 when workers at Austal USA moved the striking, aluminum-hulled trimaran out of its building shed and onto a floating drydock. The 417-foot-long ship was balanced on its center section while stanchions steadied the outriggers covering the craft’s 100-foot beam.

The delicate transfer operation, which included properly aligning tracks on shore with the rented drydock, took longer than expected, and many spectators who gathered to watch the late-afternoon exercise left before dark, when the ship was moved fully into the dock.

While in the drydock, the ship’s mast — too tall to fit through the doors of the building shed — was installed.

On April 28, the floating drydock was towed out into Mobile Bay and sunk in a specially dredged area, and the Independence was finally floated off. Tugs returned the ship to her builder’s yard after nightfall.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/04/defense_lcs_043008/




uhc comment: At $600,000,000, that sure is one purdy ship.

[Eagle_Eye]

1. Over budget, behind schedule, and under scrutiny from Congress

These ships are a shoe-in to be bought in huge numbers.

The list of problems would run off the end of the page.

The constant changing of requirements while the design and construction was already in progress has lead to massive problems.

For the Navy to reach 313 ship as planned, it will require the infusion of about 500 to 750 BILLION dollars over the next 10 years. That is money over and above the currently foretasted amounts. Add in the dollars the Air Force wants for new fighter planes as well as the money the Army wants for the Future Combat System, and we are headed to a real guns -vs- butter debate.