The Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) USS Freedom, the first of her namesake class and one of two different LCS designs, was recently deployed to Singapore for ten months in order to demonstrate the capabilities of the ship described by the Navy as a “networked, agile, stealthy surface combatant capable of defeating anti-access and asymmetric threats in the littorals.” Unfortunately, USS Freedom broke down three times on its way to Singapore and then spent close to two months of the deployment tied up at the dock for repairs.
Now, reports are leaking out that Navy officers in the Pacific are, in effect, suggesting that the ship should find a smaller ocean. Bloomberg is reporting that U.S. Navy officers in the Pacific fleet say the service’s Littoral Combat Ship may lack the speed, range and electronic warfare capabilities needed to operate in Asian waters, according to a congressional audit.