Navy launches U.S.S. Independence, first of new class of weapons-bristling speedster trimarans

DVICE (SciFi) ^ | May 2008

[BIGLOOK]

Aloha Starwise!

60 knots sounds like a stretch.

San Diego to Pearl Harbor in two days?

[Westlander]

Where’s the Phalanx?

[SoCalPol]

SAN DIEGO (NNS) — The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Class Squadron (CLASSRON) was formally established Feb. 15 in San Diego.

I have seen then inperson. Really great.

[Dominnae]

Fair winds and following seas!!

Go Navy!

[HardStarboard]

>>>They aren't thinking of steaming a tri-hull over the ocean to say, the Red Sea, are they? <<<

It's perfectly capable of crossing oceans. And I imagine its promary mission will be in Persian Gulf waters....off Iran perhaps.

What worries you about an ocean passage in a tri-hull? It looks to be destroyer sized, and the trihull will give one heck of a lot smoother ride!

[NoLibZone]

Cat ping!

[rockinqsranch]

IIRC The HUGE Containership Sealand McLean holds the Pacific crossing record at four days eighteen hours. I think that was San Francisco to Japan. The ship was huge, but was one of I think three traded to the Government in the seventies as they were too expensive to operate, and the theory of the times that speed was everything to compete in that Industry turned out to be not true.

My point is that a vessel the size of the SL-7 Sealand McLean, (it was the largest of its day, and way ahead of its time within the industry) can cross the Pacific in that amount of time, it’s quite realistic to believe these trimarans could achieve that stated speed.

[rmlew]

No phalanx CIWS. It has a 21-Cell Rolling Airframe Missile Launcher, a 57mm cannon, and two 50 cals.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/images/gd-lcs-side-001.jpg

[El Gato]

Uh, what are we going to do with a fleet of coastal ships?

Take care of Pirates and Persians.

It's not all that big. Plenty of things could carry it, if it can'd self deploy.

LOA — 127.6 m
BOA — 31.6 m
Draft - 4.4m
Displacement Full Load ~ 3120MT
Max Speed (Lightload) >40 knots
Mission Bay: 1,100 sq.m. (11,800 sq. ft.)
Flight Deck :1,030 sq.m. (11,100 sq. ft.)

[bill1952]

>What worries you about an ocean passage in a tri-hull?

Years of sailing and many dead multi-hull ocean sailor friends.

[BIGLOOK]

I've seen Enterprise go to flank speed and disappear over the horizon leaving behind her pickets while running before a typhoon. Saw USN Mk V SEAL boats too....speed over the water simply amazing.

I calculated 60 knots from San Diego to Pearl at 37 hours but there's a give and take for rough seas and weather, so 48 hours at speed is more in line with the sea conditions a ship would encounter. Still PDQ.

Only got a 35 knot speed on a SL-7 SeaLand but that's impressive. Are they gas/turbine?

[familyop]

It’s about time, and thanks to Congressman Duncan Hunter!

[Eye of Unk]

It needs lasers and rail guns.

[familyop]

"Uh, what are we going to do with a fleet of coastal ships?"

Their survivability will be better than that of a large ship that costs much more than many of them. A few months ago, an uninvited Chinese submarine surfaced next to one of our carriers during a naval exercise, although that's not the worst threat that the LCSs would be good to counter.

[El Gran Salseron]

It does look kinda like the Merrimac.

[patch789]

seems undergunned for its size

[Strategerist]

For 200M !? Holy crap. That’s like, pocket change.

Including a mission module EACH LCS is up to the vicinity of $700 Million dollars at the moment.

I can't emphasize enough what a disaster this program has been. Wish I could say more.

Take all the gee-whiz articles you see about these vessels, print them out, and use them for toilet paper.

[Strategerist]

ready to scoot out of dry dock at a rumored 60 knots.

I can't even comment on this part of the article because I literally was rolling around on the floor laughing.

[John Leland 1789]

$208 Million WELL SPENT! God bless the United States Navy.

[Strategerist]

Sigh.

What part of “The person that wrote this article is an imbecile who knows nothing about either LCS” do you not understand?

As now upwards of a half-dozen people have pointed out, the cost for just the seaframe is now over $550 million dollars and it’s pretty clear the out-the-door price with mission modules is going to end up being somewhere in the vicinity of $700 million dollars when all is said and done(for both the LM and GD seaframes.)