Freedom class Littoral Combat Ship - LCS
The Freedom class was proposed by Lockheed Martin as a contender for USN plans to build a fleet of small, multipurpose warships to operate in the littoral zone. Two ships were approved, to compete with the Independence class design offered by General Dynamics and Austal for a construction contract of up to 55 vessels. As of 2011, the lead ship is active, while a second ship is undergoing trials and a third is under construction. Despite initial plans to only accept one of the Freedom and Independence classes, the USN has requested that Congress order ten ships of each class. Planning and construction: Planning for a class of small, multipurpose warships to operate in the littoral zone began in the early 2000s. The construction contract was awarded to Lockheed Martin's LCS team (Lockheed Martin, Gibbs & Cox, Marinette Marine, Bollinger Shipyards) in May 2004 for two vessels. These would then be compared to two ships built by Austal USA to determine which design would be taken up by the Navy for a production run of up to 55 ships. On 15 April 2003, the Lockheed Martin LCS team unveiled their Sea Blade concept based on the hull form of the motor yacht Destriero. The keel of lead ship USS Freedom laid down in June 2005, by Marinette Marine in Marinette, Wisconsin. She was christened in September 2006, delivered to the Navy in September 2008, and commissioned that November. During INSURV trials, 2,600 discrepancies were discovered, including 21 considered high-priority. Not all of these were rectified before the ship entered service, as moving the ship away from Milwaukee before the winter freeze was considered a higher priority. Cost overruns during Freedom's construction combined with projected future overruns led the government to issue a "Stop-work" in January 2007 and ultimately led to the cancellation of construction of LCS-3 (the second Lockheed Martin ship) on April 13, 2007. This ship was later re-ordered. After much inconsistency on how testing and orders were to proceed, in November 2010, the USN asked that Congress approve ten of both the Freedom and Independence classes. Design: The ship is a semi-planing steel monohull with an aluminum superstructure. The design incorporates a large reconfigurable seaframe to allow rapidly interchangeable mission modules, a flight deck with integrated helicopter launch, recovery and handling system and the capability to launch and recover boats (manned and unmanned) from both the stern and side. The flight deck is 1.5 times the size of that of a standard surface ship, and uses a Trigon traversing system to move helicopters in and out of the hangar. The ship has two ways to launch and recover various mission packages: a stern ramp and a starboard side door near the waterline. The mission module bay has a 3-axis crane for positioning modules or cargo. The fore deck has a modular weapons zone which can be used for a 57 mm gun turret or missile launcher. A Rolling Airframe Missile launcher is mounted above the hangar for short-range defense against aircraft and cruise missiles, and .50-caliber gun mounts are provided topside. The core crew will be 40 sailors, usually joined by a mission package crew and an aviation detachment for a total crew of about 75. Automation allows a reduced crew, which greatly reduces operating costs, but workload can still be "grueling". During testing of the class lead, two ship's companies will rotate on four-month assignments. Four 750-kilowatt Fincantieri Isotta-Fraschini diesel generators provide 3 megawatts of electrical power to power the ship systems. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that fuel will account for only "8 percent to 18 percent" of the total life-cycle costs for Freedom. Senator Jeff Sessions has called the report into question and has suggested that the Independence, built in his state, would be more fuel efficient and that less frequent refuelings would have an impact on military operations beyond the cost of fuel.
Ships:
Units		in service		Builder
LCS 1 USS Freedom		2008		Marinette Marine Corporation, Marinette, Wisconsin (Lockheed Martin LCS Team)
LCS 3 USS Fort Worth		2012?		Marinette Marine Corporation, Marinette, Wisconsin
LCS 5 USS Milwaukee		?		Marinette Marine Corporation, Marinette, Wisconsin
LCS 7 USS Detroit		?		Marinette Marine Corporation, Marinette, Wisconsin
LCS 9 USS Little Rock		?		Marinette Marine Corporation, Marinette, Wisconsin
Specifications:
Displacement:	3000 tons (full load)
Length:	115,30 meters
Beam:	17,50 meters
Draft:	3,90 meters (full load)
Max Speed:	40+ knots (= 75+ km/h)
Propulsion:	2 Rolls-Royce MT30 gas turbines (96550 hp) 2 Colt-Pielstick 16PA6B diesel engines (17160 hp) 4 Rolls-Royce Kamewa 153SII steerable waterjets
Aviation:	2 MH-60R/S helicopters or 1 MH-60 and 3 MQ-8 Fire Scout VTUAV’s
Armament:	1 Mk-110 57mm/70-caliber gun 2 Mk-46 Mod.2 30mm gun weapon system modules (GWS) 1 Mk-49 launcher for RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) (21 missiles) 4 12,7 mm (.50 cal.) Machine Guns
Range :	3500 nmi (6500 km) at 18 knots (33 km/h)
Complement:	40 core crew / accommodations for 75
Armament:
in example with 2 x Mk-46 30mm gun system modules
class images: (Lockheed Martin photos via NNS)
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