Posted on 12/15/2015 9:48:17 AM PST by pabianice
The littoral combat ship USS Milwaukee, the Navy's newest ship that was commissioned in Milwaukee in November, broke down at sea Friday and had to be towed more than 40 nautical miles to a base in Little Creek, Va., the Navy Times reported...
"Reporting of a complete loss of propulsion on USS Milwaukee (LCS 5) is deeply alarming, particularly given this ship was commissioned just 20 days ago," Sen. John McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee who has voiced serious reservations about the LCS program in the past, said in a statement to the Times...
They said the Milwaukee and several other new 380-foot ships haven't lived up to promises in some key areas, such as the ability to quickly swap out combat modules for missions that include searching for underwater mines and engaging in battle with other ships.
They pointed to interchangeable modules on the vessels that are supposed to make the ships more versatile, with each version tailored for a specific purpose such as minesweeping or hunting submarines.
The original goal was to be able to change the modules in 72 hours.
But in practice, the "plug and play" concept isn't working, said Dakota Wood, senior research fellow for defense programs at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C...
(Excerpt) Read more at military.com ...
Was it built in Russia at one of their tank plants?
...snorkel...snorkel...
As I wave goodbye to more of my money....bye George...bye!
.
I think I know who was the “Systems Engineer” was on this project ...
you know, one of the self-proclaimed “smartest guys in the room” ...
.
I hope it’s under warranty.
Did the contractor ever hear of an oil filter? Sheesh!
“Navy’s Newest Ship, USS Milwaukee, Breaks Down at Sea” It’s where it should happen in what is known as a “shake down cruise”
Stuff breaks, but I think I detect a air of general negativity regarding this particular series of ships..
Not a Navy guy, but the article seems almost a slam against the entire line of ships..
Contractors make wild promises. General Officers eat it up. The public gets taken for billions. The end result never lives up to the promises. The contractors laugh all the way to the bank. The Brass retire and go to work for the Contractors at usually “no show” jobs.
Repeat the above.
They had metal shavings in the oil that they found in the filter for one unit...and shut it down per procedure.
Then while operating on the second unit, it shut itself down when it sensed the same thing.
The Milwaukee has been through a couple of stringent trials and performed well.
This is not a design flaw, this is a maintenance and usage issue...and it will be corrected and the unit will perform well.
with the new FF (Fast Frigate) designation for what will amount to Flight II of these ships, and with the up armaments and sensors they will be receiving, then when they go back and upgrade the existing ships with as much of that as possible, these vessels are going to turn out to be decent frigates.
They will be adequately armed for self protection and to fulfill their frigate type missions. They will get decent ASuW weaponry and sensors, have very good ASW capabilities, and adequate self-defense AAW capability.
Sad that we had to go through so much to make that happen...but a lot of us have been saying it was needed for years.
Now we will have fast, very network centric, stealthy, and decently armed class of Frigates which the USN has needed for some time since they defanged the OHPs.
Maybe certain groups not friendly to America don’t want this ship to be successful.
Total power failure is a rare event and it can happen and has happened decades before these ships and will happen again with different ships.
There’s a good reason why some of Navy guys refer to LCS as ‘Little Crappy Ship’.
Lol.....I think I get the picture...
Same type that did BarryCare’s webpage. No doubt a foreign contractor.
Stuff happens on a regular basis on shake down cruises with new ships and ship coming out of a big yard overhaul.
There have been a number of teething problems with both classes (Freedom hull and Independence hull) ships. At least some of which stem from their COTS origins from existing civilian designs.
The Freedom was determined not to have enough reserve bouyency, fir instance. She was given stern hull extensions (”water wings”) and later ships had slightly lengthened hulls. The Independence had major and unexpected corrosion with her waterjet propulsors due to metal mismatch and leaving zincs off.
The modular stuff hasn’t worked out anywhere near as expected. The ships, as a system, are a major disappointment, but as Jeff said the learning experiences will be applied to the new build ships and retrofitted into the existing ones. The result will be capable lower-tier Frigate class ships, which the USN needs in good number.
If you want a frigate, you don’t have to pay $450 m. for a LCS. For $100 m. you can buy one of these:
http://www.marinelink.com/maritime/frigate
Did they just putty over the cracks in the superstructure?
Probably just needs a software update
I find that it’s generally how they setup the computer management systems....
This could be just a sensor and program issue. It also could be that the breakdown, which could have been avoided was allowed to occur because they don’t know where this debris is coming from....so they let it shut it’s self down and will disassemble it to determine the source.
Metal shavings can be just wear, but in todays engines, it’s usually not a good thing..It may indicate a defective part or the beginning of a serious issue.
In any case they really need to understand it before they proceed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.