Independence Readies for Commissioning

Independence Readies for Commissioning
January 07, 2010
Navy News|by Lt.j.g. Jan Bowers

MOBILE, Ala. - Pre-Commissioning Unit Independence (LCS 2) will be commissioned Jan. 16.

Advanced technology, unique manning, and a very recognizable tri-hull - at first glance, nearly everything about Independence's steep angles, high bridge, and aluminum construction appears to be the first of its kind. That impression continues inside, where a spacious mission module bay is reached by stairs instead of shin-banging ladders, and down below, where four water jets compliment two diesel and two gas turbine engines.

LCS is a fast, agile, mission-focused ship that demonstrates the latest in naval warfighting technology. The ship is specifically designed to defeat "anti-access" threats in shallow, coastal water regions, including fast surface craft, quiet diesel submarines, and mines. To meet the combatant commander's increased demand for mission-tailored forces packages, LCS features an interchangeable modular design that allows the ship to be reconfigured to meet mission requirements.

"The ship is large enough and flexible enough to hold just about anything you could think of in terms of coastal and littoral warfare," said Cmdr. Michael Riley, commanding officer, Gold Crew. "If you build modules we could carry them. That's one of the true unique things about Independence. I think we are going to expand way beyond the initial three mission sets the ship was designed to do, and of course do those extremely well."

The Sailors who will bring the ship to life on Jan. 16 are part of an innovative manning reconstruct that reduces crew size, demanding each Sailor maintain high levels of proficiency in multiple fields, and optimizes ship operability with multiple crews. Independence is manned by two rotational crews, "blue" and "gold," of 40 Sailors each. These crews are further augmented by detachment specialists for each of the mission modules.


Rest of article about this $704 million dollar POS at: http://www.military.com/news/article/navy-news/independence-readies-for-commissioning.html

The Freedum costs $590 million and this one $704 million. That qualifies as a pig in the poke in my book.

what do you think of their capabilities? Do they provide $704 million dollars worth of naval capability?

this is an all aluminum ship that bans smoking out of fear of fire. It's main gun is only 57 mm and it is suppose to be able to operate close to shores. It would seem to me a modern Russian tank could punch holes in it with impunity.