Free Republic

I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm’s way,” reads the quote from the larger-than-life father of the U.S. Navy, John Paul Jones, which is posted above a stairway leading to the mess deck on the USS Independence. On a clear, calm day in late March, on only the ship’s fifth full day at sea, the crew saw how fast the Navy’s second Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-2), designed by General Dynamics, could go. In the blue waters far off Florida during its maiden voyage from Key West...

The first time Chief Petty Officer Gary Thomas took his place on the bridge of the Navy's newest ship, he remembers, he felt a little nauseous. It wasn't nerves or anything like that. The chief engineman was just more used to being below decks, where most vessels don't sway as much. "As an engineer I had never stood watch on the bridge before," he said. "It's a lot different from being down below the waterline." On this ship, multipurpose monitors allow engineers to oversee the entire operation from a seat on the bridge rather than having to stand watch in...