USS Independence. Photo via Wikipedia
Posted on 07/11/2014 10:51:02 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Undermanned and overworked crews can’t keep Littoral Combat Ships running
Did you ever work a job that required two people, but your stingy employer insisted that one was enough? Then you understand the problem with the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship.
One of the LCS’s supposed advantages is its much smaller crew compared to other vessels. Where a Navy frigate might have 200 sailors, the frigate-size LCS has just 40—although, to be fair, two different 40-person crews take turns running the ship.
LCS is a jack-of-all-trades warship that can carry different modules for various missions—anti-submarine warfare, surface warfare or mine-hunting.
The idea was that automation would enable fewer sailors to operate the $400-million LCS for all these missions. This saves on manpower costs as well as on precious shipboard space for crew accommodations.
But a new Government Accountability Office report proves what any Burger King worker already knows—cutting your workforce by 80 percent without also decreasing its workload … isn’t always a great idea.
When the GAO studied USS Freedom’s recent 10-month deployment to Singapore, the auditors found that crews worked too hard. “Freedom crews averaged about six hours of sleep per day compared to the Navy standard of eight hours,” the GAO stated.
“Some key departments, such as engineering and operations, averaged even fewer.”
And this happened despite the Navy temporarily adding 10 extra sailors to the crew and sending contractors aboard.
Missing sleep isn’t exactly a new problem for Navy sailors. But the sailing branch has workload standards for a reason. “Crew members told us that their sleep hours decreased significantly during major equipment casualties, particularly those affecting the ship’s diesel generators and other engineering systems,” the GAO explained.
Warships naturally have to periodically return to port for replenishment and repair. But with its small crew and limited on-board maintenance capability, the LCS is particularly dependent on shore-based support. If something needs to be fixed, the LCS either returns to port or maintenance teams—supplied by private defense contractors—fly out to the ship.
During the Singapore deployment, Freedom had to report to port for five days of preventative maintenance every 25 days, plus two weeks of intensive maintenance every four months.
The result was that the Freedom spent lots of time on the sideline. Ships of the Seventh Fleet—the Navy’s Pacific force—typically spend about 20 percent of their time in port. Freedom spent 58 percent of her tour docked in Singapore.
Mechanical problems were so common that the Freedom lost 55 days at sea, which in turn limited the amount of useful data that the Navy could collect about how reliable the LCS is in the first place.
Nor was Freedom the only problem ship. Another LCS, USS Independence, spent eight months of 2013 in dock or in maintenance.
The Navy wants at least 24 LCS. But critics worry that the vessel is too fragile and too expensive. Freedom’s maintenance issues suggest that such a small crew can’t maintain the ship, let alone cope with emergencies. And one wonders how many contractors would be eager to fly out to fix an LCS in the middle of a combat zone.
The Navy might want to sleep on this. Even if the LCS’ sailors can’t.
USS Independence. Photo via Wikipedia
Active Duty ping.
Is it me, or is that thing ugly as sin?
[Yes, I know that appearance is not an issue in designing a warship, but...damn.]
Modernize the Fletcher class destroyer instead.
To the contrary, sounds to me like they got all the useful data they needed...
I think it’s one of the sexiest ships alive.
Not very reliable, tho.
The LCS is a much more PC type of ship, with far fewer scary guns and stuff on borad to hurt people with!
It is littorally a disaster.... (duck’n & runn’n!)
Don’t they open up those windows and point cannons through them?
Sexy, to what? A platypus?
You want to see guns? Look at any dreadnought battleship.
It’s a BUFF. Big Ugly Floating something or other.
How about BUFCF? No i can’t explain as i would get my post deleted.
Different strokes, etc.
Truth be told, I’m more worried about whether it can fight.
Big Ugly Floating Charlie Foxtrot?
The snipes in The Hole {Boiler Rooms} did 6 on and 6 off. Only 6 hours in 24 was sleep the another 18 was work and watch or you did 4&4 of same.
Ship readiness evaluations on some days off of GITMO you got an hour of sleep. That was 30 days of whatever the inspectors wanted to do like General Quarters at 2:00am till noon the next day.
Due to Murphy's law I believe an undermanned ship is begging for trouble and an automated combat shipis just that. Undermanned except in ideal conditions.
There are other serious considerations besides just the work. Breakdowns requiring extended at sea repair times, Fire, mass causalities, illness, God forbid taking a hit requiring Repair Teams {Damage Control Teams}. The numbers mentioned in the article seem too low. Several losses of critical skill persons could put the ship in trouble. Cross training does not replace experience.
Exactly
It is fugly.
They don’t have enough people to service the turbines and clean the heads at the same time. God forbid cleaning up the chow hall (or whatever the navy calls it) and working the sonar suite at the same time.
It sounds poorly thought out by brass that wanted all thing to other brass. A ship requiring that much maintenance with no crew at sea is not reliable in combat. It isn’t a plane that can be easily replaced when it is down. It is a warship.
With the crews forced inside they have no access to sun and fresh air. It is vital to moral on a ship. Submariners are trained and rewarded for months of underwater duty. Sailors on this ship are not.
You won’t find too many complaints about six hours of a hot rack. Any good sailor can grab a nap on light duty but it sounds like this ship is so undermanned sailors are pushed to exhaustion. Exhausted humans make mistakes. If this story is true that is....
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