Navy launches Imperial Star Destroyer
There’s no denying that the new Independence-class Littoral Combat Ships are menacing-looking pieces of equipment. Instapinch has some great photos of our newest one, the USS Independence. More are in the works.
What do they do? Oh, nearly 50 knots, I hear. Plus some other nifty stuff:
The Littoral Combat Ship is a key element of the Navy’s plan to address asymmetric threats. Intended to operate in coastal areas of the globe, the ship will be fast, highly maneuverable and geared to supporting mine detection/elimination, anti-submarine warfare and surface warfare, particularly against small surface craft.
Looks like the clandestine submarine industry I talked about here just got a little more exciting. Also taking note: the Iranian navy, with their Pasdaran speedboats that hassle our sailors in the Persian gulf, and the Somali pirates.
UPDATE: Corrected the post title, per commenter fanningp, who points out that “commissioning” (as I originally wrote) and “launching” are not the same thing.
He’s right. Great little historical essay here explains the difference.
Not only that, “launching” sounds cooler in the Star Wars context.
__________________
{Post by See-Dubya; h/t to OpFor.}
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Very awesome designs, as always. And speaking of Star Destroyers for space, we’ll be the first nation to reach that goal
Awesome. I emailed this in a day or so ago.
Anchors aweigh!
But can it break coconuts?
Named after my small hometown of Independence, Kentucky!
(I wish!)
Ah, just another target. Torpedoes can go faster than 50 knots.
Ah-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-gahhhhhhh.
Ah-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-gahhhhhhh.
“Dive, Dive.”
Finally! The tech from the first stealth boat is being applied fully to a line ship. Just from the pictures you can see designs from SES to stealth packaged into one fantastic looking piece of hardware.
That puppy has Persian Gulf written all over it.
This is NOT your grandfather’s PT boat of WWII (but it’ll do!!)
Yep. I know Iran keeps bragging about its anti-ship missile arsenals, so I hope this thing is hard for Silkworms (and whatever else they throw at it) to find.
Perhaps it has Yangtze River written all over it, too.
You know who else is getting nervous about this?
At least I hope he is. We’re not going to do anything serious to him, as much as he likes to pretend we are.
I recently read that El Barracho just inked a multi-billion dollar deal with the Russians. Hopefully we’ll wait for the check to clear then outfit the Columbians to trash the Soviet-era garbage. Much like the Israelis did with the Syrian air defense system.
Damn.. if Batman had a boat, that’d be it!
Not if Nancy, Hill, and/or Barry have their say. They’re all about selling the Colombians down the river.
She’s NOT commissioned yet….she was LAUNCHED on the 29th…big difference….
What an assume looking piece of technology! Thanks for sharing see-dubya. It does look a lot like a star destroyer now if we could only launch something like that into space.
That’s right.
From Texas to the south pole we have one ally. What do we do? Abandon them, of course.
I WANNA RIDE!!
I WANNA RIDE!!
Way to go NAVY! How did pelosi and reid let this get by them? The little iran worm is probably having a doctor give him drugs to deal with this.
L
Can I have one of those for my birthday???
BRAVO USS INDEPENDENCE
wonder if they played the imperial march when she was launched
Any weapon is only as good as the bearer’s will to use it.
Yep designed to work in groups of four…
Four test ships were funded, two have already been cancelled.
Big ship Admirals still own the Congressmen who run funding… sad really…
and by the way… 50 knots? Thats the unclassified speed…. just like the Navy would never say any of our Destroyers could do over 30 knots…
These things are BUILT for constricted waters like the Persian Gulf… which is why the Blue Water Admirals hate em.
And if the order to fire is not given, big ship, small ship, group of 4, whatever… useless.
Very impressive.
If only we have the will to use these ships when the occasion arises, as I am confident such occasions will, many times, over the next generation.
When the USS Independence is commissioned, as a gesture of good will, I suggest the navy sail to the Persian Gulf and conduct a fireworks show and invite the Iranian Navy. Then (this is an old joke) the next Iranian Navy will have glass bottomed boats.
Why? So they can see the old Iranian Navy.
Glad that the Lockheed contracts were cancelled. Those Chinese loving traitors should have been put out of business a long time ago. As for the “stealth” design, it isn’t that new. Check out the Merrimac (Civil War, for those not into military history).
I’m not ex-Navy, so I’ll defer to the swabbies on this, but torpedoes are designed to hit below on the waterline, and it would seem that the catamaran design wouldn’t leave them much of a target.
Littoral combat ships were not seriously considered during the 90’s… anyone care to venture a reason why?
MNUSMCDavid said:
Littoral combat ships were not seriously considered during the 90’s… anyone care to venture a reason why?
Uhhhh, guided missiles?
This is cool, but what would be even better is to see the Coast Guard (who has the mission of protecting our shores) getting these ships. This will probably not happen as the Coast Guard does not have the lobby the Navy has for Congress.
It makes sense, it would be more economical, it would be more effective - NAHHHH it is political.
Nope, deep water boat jockeys thought they were passe… kept referring to them as WW2 mentality. As has been noted in a few posts… these ships are a terrorist country’s nightmare.
Oh and Clinton didn’t want to spend any money
Actually, the brakes were put on LCS-3 at Lockheed and LCS-4 at General Dynamics in November of last year….so two different players had ships halted…..the LCS program has been plagued by cost overruns for some time.
If you say so… but what does an exocet go for, 50k, 100K? ROI matters.
LOL… yeah, cause you know the South was soooo worried about Radar returns used to home in missles… really, thats why they had slanted sides… not cause it effectivly give you thicker armor…
If you don’t think Politics plays into this… then just where are the EIGHT Hydrofoils that were commisioned in the 80s?
FFGs are the size of WWII Destroyers… DDs grew to the size of cruisers… its all about a Navy built to counter the Soviet Union… which… uh… no longer exists…
Yes, and getting into position to launch???? With US Navy Electronics going??? and countermeasures… and Air… and Standard Missles… and CIWS…
Priceless.
PS… US Navy Ret… Radar tech in fact…
Hope your right… all that stuff didn’t do much for the Cole, well of course we didn’t use it.
So if an old rusting MIG fired an Exocet over Iranian airspace the Independence could do??? Counter measures??? Hope your right.
Brooklyn Red:
Por ejemplo.
Oh, that makes me feel better… kinda like an upgraded phaylix (sp?) right?
I didn’t see that listed in the specs… OK I’ll shut up now.
Key to the class is its the first of a modular weapon systems idea.
They’ll be able to put what they need for the mission onboard, actualy change out entire weapon systems…
Need Anti Air? Need Shore Fire Support? Plug it in…
But with Standard missles, then guns, then CIWS… and active Countermeasures WITH the stealth capability…
It makes it hard to get a missle lock in the first place (stealth) which means you have to get closer to launch… against older technology this puts you WITHIN the engagement envelope… you may get an Exocet off ONCE… but won’t a second time.
Iran will get ONE shot… then their Navy and Air Farce gets to go see Allah…
No, no, no. You were supposed to say:
Defector01 said:
They’re saving the Imperial March until Dick Cheney takes command.
Locke:
…but can it make the Kessel Run in less twelve parsecs?
I am glad we are building and launching new ships. My question to the 3 stooges running for President is what are they going to do about this… http://thecitytroll.blogspot.com/2008/05/chinese-build-secret-nuclear-submarine.html
I think you meant to say the Virginia. The Merrimac was a scuttled hull on which the Virginia was built.
Been 54 years since my time in the Navy but you can bet your sweet bippie there is a way to neutralize those 50 mph torpedoes with a little close air support that will use those subs for target practice in that little lake of the Persian Gulf
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htsurf/articles/20080501.aspx
Speed Kills
May 1, 2008: The rapid cost escalation of the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program largely stems from insistence that the ship have high speed (90 kilometers an hour, which is 50 percent faster than similar size destroyers). This required a huge power plant, and then the navy kept adding and removing other features, while the two shipbuilders were building their prototypes. The LCS was supposed to cost about $200 million per ship. But this rapidly escalated to more than twice that. There were numerous problems, not the least of which trying to keep the LCS (which was originally supposed to be a 1,000 ton ship) small.
There are actually two different LCS designs. One is a semi-planning monohull from Lockheed-Martin. The other is a trimaran from General Dynamics. LCS 2 was laid down in late 2005. These are essentially prototypes, and serial procurement was not expected to begin before 2008, when initial design flaws should have been worked out. Ultimately, the Navy hoped to have between 50 and 60 LCSs by the middle of the next decade.
The LCS is sort of replacing the 1970s era Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates (4,100 ton ships that would cost about $100 million to build today). The big difference between the frigates and LCS is the greater use of automation in the LCS (reducing crew size to 75, versus 176 in the frigates) and larger engines (giving the LCS a speed of about 90 kilometers an hour, versus 50 for the frigates.) The LCS also has a large “cargo hold” designed to hold different “mission packages” of equipment and weapons.
The Littoral Combat Ship is, simultaneously, revolutionary, and a throwback. The final LCS design will displace at least 3,000 tons, with a full load draft of under ten feet, permitting access to very shallow coastal waters, as well as rivers. This is where most naval operations have taken place in the past generation. Max range is 2,700 kilometers. Built using commercial “smartship” technologies, which greatly reduce personnel requirements, the LCS is expected to require a crew of about 50 in basic configuration, but will have accommodations for about 75 personnel. The ship is designed for a variety of interchangeable modules, which will allow the ships to be quickly reconfigured for various specialized missions. Crews will also be modularized, so that specialized teams can be swapped in to operate specific modules.
The navy is not happy with the performance of American ship builders. Costs are rising sharply, quality is down and the admirals can’t get satisfactory answers from the manufacturers. For example, the new class of destroyers, the DDG-1000 class destroyers have also faced ballooning costs, up to as much as $3 billion per ship, as opposed to planned costs of $800 million. The current Arleigh Burke-class destroyers only cost $1 billion each. Part of the problem is mismanagement by the shipbuilders, but a lot of the blame belongs to the navy, and the non-military officials in the Department of Defense, politicians in Congress, who get involved. No one is in charge, no one is responsible, and everyone is surprised that the system doesn’t work.
We are at War. Build more!
The US Coast Guard needs to get these ships. Most of their boats are 40-50 years old. They need the speed and flexibility these ships offer for counterdrug and counterterrorism. Littoral combat is important for the Navy, and is the mission for the US Coast Guard.
Thanks for posting that winemkr….and now you all know some of what has been dogging the LCS program for some time….LCS-1 “Freedom” has had delays, most notably a fire back in 2007. LCS-1 was launched in Sep. 2006. 2006!!!! If “Independence” was just launched this past week….how long will it take GD to get to commissioning? Last I checked the Navy does not expect to take delivery of “Freedom” until the spring of 2009….
Heck, the ship I was attached to, a CARRIER, was launched 27 October 1984 and was put in commission on 25 October 1986…just under two years…..we’re talking about a CARRIER as opposed to a MUCH smaller LCS….and it CERTAINLY takes alot longer to outfit a carrier than it does an LCS…especially a nuclear carrier….
What gives?
Is there enough water in the Rio Grande to float them puppies?
In addition to the obvious role in the Persian gulf, this baby would make a timely addition to the newly re-activated 4th Fleet (Caribbean, Latin America). Drug interdiction (sink on sight), protection of off-shore oil rigs, and something else for that Castro wannabe, Hugo C. to think about.
Winemkr- Very disturbing article, and resembles the same kind of bureaucratic, meddling crap that went on with the MRAPs.
Who are the idiots in the DOD who allowed this picture of the hull to be made public?
After Alan Bond won the 1983 America’s Cup, he hoisted the boat up and allowed people to take pictures of the winged keel.
Dennis Conner said afterwards that Bond’s hubris allowed Team Dennis Conner to save literally decades’ worth of R&D that would have been spent trying to figure out how to replicate the keel.
Anyway, the pictures posted here are basically a blueprint showing the Chicoms how to duplicate the Littoral design.
Expect miniature copies in your local Walmart in time for the all-important Christmas shopping season; real-life copies should be seen off the coasts of Taiwan & the Philippines circa Q2 2009.
I would just hope this thing doesn’t come up against anything it’s own size, because that pop gun on the bow ain’t gonna do much against a real ship. Twin 5″ turrets fore and aft ought to be de riguer for any combat ship that isn’t a carrier. Otherwise it will fare worse than Taffy 3 did in the Battle of the Philippine Seas.
This design is a product of “Skink Works” bac in the mid 80s where it dissappeared from sight.
That one 5″ gun can pump out lots of rounds REALLY fast. It’s missiles can ruin an enemy ship’s day in no time.
Looks like the USS Merrimack.
Junk. Over-priced, over-hyped junk. You can learn a lot more about these white elephants over at Strategy Page.
The Navy wanted four LCS craft initially, two classes of two ships each, but the builders went so wildly over budget that the second pair have already been canceled. I’d be amazed if any more will even be laid down, not to mention completed.
Pee-wee league speedboats have never been the Navy’s strength. The PT boats had an uninspiring record in WWII; the most famous example of a PT in action was John F. Kennedy getting his PT-109 sliced in two right out from underneath him by a Japanese destroyer. The common joke by PT skippers was this apocryphal after-action discussion:
PT skipper #1: “Did you fire any torpedoes?”
PT skipper #2: “No, I was too busy dodging yours.”
The Pegasus-class PHMs of the 1980s were another ill-fated stab at flea-bite boats designed for littoral operations. Four were built, but that was it; they never lived up to expectations and they were quickly and quietly decommissioned.
The Navy is having serious problems with its shipbuilding program these days. The builders are turning out ships with serious quality control problems; the Navy contributes to massive cost overruns by literally redesigning ships while they’re still being built.
The LCS idea isn’t going anywhere. If we really want a “brown water Navy,” We’d have been better off to just dust off the plans for the old WWII PT boats. Not that they’d be any more effective, but at least we could afford to build more than two of them.
Wonder how long it’s gonna take the New York Times to publish all the top secret technology that’s on the ship?
And how long before the plans are for sell on e-bay?
I’ll bet the Chinese had a copy of the plans before the Navy got them.
.