The Newest in Navy Ships

LCS Brings the Fight to the Shore
Virginian-Pilot | December 16, 2008
ABOARD THE FREEDOM -- The sound of freedom is not always as loud as the jet pilots would have you believe. On a sunny, mild December morning, the noise at the waterline was the swoosh of a steel hull pushing through the choppy water of the upper Chesapeake Bay, accompanied by the distant thrum of diesel engines and gas turbines down below. It was q uiet by virtually any standard, even when hitting nearly 50 knots.

The littoral combat ship Freedom, first in its class, pulled away from the U.S. Naval Academy pier in Annapolis, Md., on Monday morning and made its way down the Chesapeake Bay, headed for Norfolk. Along the way, it helped illustrate what a big part of the Navy's future could look like.

"This is the first large change in the way the Navy does business in a long, long time," said Lt. Jeff Hurley, the ship's combat systems officer.

The Freedom began as an idea in early 2002, when the Navy decided to try speeding up the timeline to acquire, design and build a new type of ship. In this case, it put out a call for a "small, fast, maneuverable" addition to its family of surface warships. The final players standing were Lockheed Martin with the Freedom, and General Dynamics with the Independence. The Freedom was delivered in September and commissioned on Nov. 8 in Milwaukee, Wis. The Independence is due for delivery in 2009.

What the littoral combat ships bring to the game are speed, maneuverability and adaptability. The ship is powered by two diesel engines producing a combined 17,000 horsepower and two gas turbines producing a combined 96,000 horsepower. Combined with a semi-planed monohull and a mere 14-foot draft, which drops to 8 feet at higher speeds, the ship can practically fly across the water, as it did Monday on its way south. A black burp of diesel fumes wafted overhead, the Bay churning gray and white behind it. Top speed for the day: 47.2 knots.

This power plant feeds four rotating waterjets instead of the traditional series of propellers. This set-up gives the Freedom a high level of maneuverability and allows it to do "zero-radius" turns, where the ship can spin 180 degrees in place like a toy propeller on stick. It can make the same turn, fully loaded, at 30 knots in the span of three ship lengths.

On board, roughly 40 percent of the 379-foot ship is empty space, designed to accommodate myriad "modules" in a plug-and-play system. These modules vary by mission -- for enemies on the surface, in the air or under water -- and can live on the ship's flight deck or water-line deck. The modules also can be swapped out within 24 hours, as opposed to the months in a shipyard such a switch would take on a conventional ship. The possibilities for such a system are virtually limitless, said Cmdr. Don Gabrielson, the ship's commanding officer. "The most fantastic thing it can do is something we haven't even thought of yet."

The ship is fully computerized, with more than 9,000 networked components overseeing everything from fire suppression to engineering to combat. Much of the daily shipboard data is available in numerous points around the ship and via 44 cameras stationed throughout. This automation also translates into a significantly smaller crew, with only 40 people on board running the ship, and space for about 35 more for the missions and air operations.

Three people man the bridge, instead of the normal dozen or so. The engine room is manned remotely via the network, with a roving crew member checking fluid levels. With such a small crew, everyone has multiple jobs.

Lt. Rob Briggs, for example, is the ship's main propulsion assistant. He's also trained as a navigator and helps drive the ship. And he helps clean it and he does his own dishes after he eats, just like everyone from the commanding officer on down. "With a crew this size, rank has little privilege," he said, but he doesn't mind at all. He joined the ship's crew in March 2005 and watched it being built. "It's the most fun you can have in the Navy today."

Petty Officer 1st Class Chris Richars agreed. He's in engineering and said he's always busy but enjoys the variety. The lowest-ranking sailor on board is a second class petty officer, he said, so the crew's experience means they're all quick learners.

But a small crew does mean perks, including more space. The biggest berthing on board is an eight-bed room, with its own shower and toilet. "It's lots more work," Richars said, "but it's lots more comfortable."

The Freedom arrived at Norfolk Naval Station around 3:30 p.m. Monday afternoon, backing in across the pier from the frigate Elrod, whose crew came out to look at the new ship. The Freedom will go into the yard for some work and will head out in the spring for its second set of acceptance trials, where it will test the weapon and combat systems that it couldn't on the Great Lakes. It will ultimately head to San Diego, where it will be based.

Because of its shallow draft and maneuverability, the Navy estimates that Freedom can access 5,000 more ports worldwide than current ships can. This, along with the ship's adaptability, have drawn great interest from not only other U.S. service branches but also from countries such as Israel and Saudi Arabia.

John Young, under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, rode down on the ship Monday. He said it has the modular space that Navy leaders hoped for, and he could envision such a ship on multiple missions, including anti-piracy work around the Horn of Africa, if it were in production today. What concerns Young, though, is the ship's price tag: more than $500 million. That's more than double the original estimate. "We've got to work on the price a bit and then we'll have a great ship," he said.

The sponsor of the ship is Birgit Smith the widow of Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery and gallantry above and beyond the call of duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom. You can read more here.