US Navy's newest toy!!!

[Retired Navy GMC]

Thought I would post this for all the other Navy guys on here.

This is the newest ship in development for the Navy and was just delivered to the Navy on Dec. 18, 2009

USS Independence (LCS-2)

Specs:

Keel Laid: January 19, 2006

Launched: 2008

Commissioned: 2009

Builder: Austal USA, Mobile, AL.

Propulsion system: 2 Gas Turbines, 2 Diesel Engines,

4 Steerable Waterjets, 1 Steerable Thruster

Length, overall: 127.1 meters

Beam: 30.4 meters

Draft: 4.5 meters

Displacement: 2800 tons

Speed: 50+ knots

Crew: 40 core crew members, 75 with detachments

Aviation: two MH-60R/S or one MH-60R/S and VTUAV's

Armament:

- 1 MK 31 Mod 0 RAM Launcher

- 1 MK 110 Mod 0 57mm Gun system

- 3 MK 26 Mod 17 .50 Cal Machine guns

Also it can launch and recover small boats (specwar teams) from the rear.

Once they set it up with Aegis Spy 1D Radar and VLS its going to be one bad bitch!!

[JPS]

That is way cool! Any ideas as to where will it probably lurk?

[Retired Navy GMC]

As of now it is homeported in San Diego... from there, who knows.

[Dropkick Murphy]

The only thing I don't mind being taxed for.

[Guest jackdm3]

Awesome! It even comes with a football field!

[willis68]

Those are built in Mobile Alabama, Last year My boat was at dry dock for 6 months right across the bay from Austal shipyard where they are made, they were not very cooperative about me taking photographs, but I got a couple and myself and a few of my crew got a tour of the manufacturing facility, very impressive to say the least

[Guest bkelm18]

Very nice. I'd rather have served on that.

[poak]

Merry Christmas, USN!

[Guest db99wj]

I saw that boat, right there in Mobile when we were coming back from Orange Beach AL. I didn't realize what it was until this thread. Willis, the shot you got above, is all I could see from the interstate.

[Guest Sgt. Joe]

That is one really cool looking ship

[Guest jackdm3]

I'm trying to illustrate that it's B I G. Your tennis court would require a net that would certainly hinder a chopper.

[Guest Linoge]

*sigh* If that class of ships had gotten as far as it was intended/hoped, they would have been fricking awesome.

As it is, though, they are going to be more nightmarish than anything else. Last I paid attention (and this could have changed), the LCS designation will describe a grand total of four ships - two like the one above, and two like this one - with another ten possible if Congress gets off its arse and costs do not continue to skyrocket. Odd numbers will describe the single-hull, and evens will describe the tri-hulls - with very few parts being interchangeable between them, and each of them being built by different companies.

I guess my two years as an Electrical Engineering Officer onboard a FFG that was almost older than me kind of soured me on the whole "getting parts to fix busted-assed things" standpoint, but complicating a ship class like this is... well... troublesome. To put it simply.

Badarse ship, there is no doubt. But, then, so was the Seawolf.

[Garufa]

Looks like a lawn dart.

FYI 50 Knots = 57.6 miles per hour for the rest of us. That's mighty fast!

What class of ship would this be?

[Guest jackdm3]

Nope! Looks like that flag they put in your steak when it's done.

[Retired Navy GMC]

[quote name=Linoge;425644

I guess my two years as an Electrical Engineering Officer onboard a FFG that was almost older than me kind of soured me on the whole "getting parts to fix busted-assed things" standpoint' date=' but complicating a ship class like this is... well... troublesome. To put it simply.

[/quote]

I know what you mean..... my second ship was USS Semmes (DDG 18), an Adams class destroyer. Commissioned in in 1962 and I was onboard when we de-commed her in 1991 and sold her to the Greek Navy. It was a real bitch to get parts for her and we had to machine a lot of parts that we needed. The good thing about the new LCS is that they all are using off the shelf components.

Same as the Arleigh Burke destroyers.... they may look different and configured differently, but they all use "most" of the same components.

My first ship in 1985 was USS John A. Moore (FFG-19). What FFG were you on?

Edited January 2, 2010 by Retired Navy GMC

[robin48]

I was a plankowner on DDG52 USS Barry. BM1. Great ships, but I will always be a gator sailor in my heart.

[Guest Muttling]

Looks like a lawn dart.

FYI 50 Knots = 57.6 miles per hour for the rest of us. That's mighty fast!

What class of ship would this be?

It's one the new Littoral Combat Ships, it's designed to operate in blue water or brown water. High stealth, shallow draft, stable, very fast, and a great deal of versatility.

I can haul a couple of landing craft or M1 Abrahams as well as 2 Osprey or a few helicopters.

It's designed with North Korea in mind. If we get into a conventional fight with them, we're gonna need to land troops on their shoreline.

The biggest criticism I've heard is of it is the fact that it's an aluminum hull. The Britt's experience in the Falklands showed how vulnerable aluminum hulls can be.

Edited January 2, 2010 by Muttling

[mk19]

that looks cool. badass looking

[usnbud]

My first ship was an adams class also, USS Sellers DDG-11,1982-1985. She was scrapped a few years ago by Metro Machine Corp in Norfolk. (www.memach.com) They used to have a list of all the ships they were dismantling. I was also onboard USS Klakring FFG-42 from 1985-1989. Im an Engineman, so I REALLY prefered the FFG over the DDG! Tours in Iceland, GTPPT Greatlakes, and Panama brought me to retirement.

I read the other day that we are still building Arliegh Burkes for at least 10 more ships.

[Guest mustangdave]

Very cool...love the design and STEALTH...thanks for posting that up CHIEF.

[DaveTN]

Gator Navy.

That looks like a mini version of an LPD.

[Chief07]

Nice. Ultra modern. Nothing like what I served on.Then again, everything I served on is decommisioned.Damn I feel old.

[Guest Muttling]

Nice. Ultra modern. Nothing like what I served on.Then again, everything I served on is decommisioned.Damn I feel old.

I think your wife might resent that comment.

[Chief07]

I think your wife might resent that comment.

SHHHHHH she's sleeping.

[Guest Ae-35]

They were susposed to scrap my last one, DD975 this past year, DDG11, AE35, and AFS1, all gone, yeah, guess we're old. Never was a "gator sailor", can't comment on the new stuff.