Page 28: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (January 2014)

28 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • JANUARY 2014

MULTI-MISSION, DUAL DESIGN, SINGLE FOCUS

Littoral Combat Ship

U.S. NAVY - LITTORAL COMBAT SHIPS

L ast month marked the launch of two new Littoral Combat

Ships: Milwaukee (LCS 5) launched by Marinette Ma- rine into the icy Menominee

River; and Jackson (LCS 6) launched by

Austal into the far warmer waters found off of southern Alabama. While the two

LCS variants and shipyard climates are a world apart, this innovate U.S. Navy ship production program has the com- mon goal of fortifying U.S. defense in- terests while spurring investment in the creation of two state-of-the-art ship pro- duction facilities.

The Ships

Mid-December in Marinette, Wis., can be described with one word: cold. De- cember 18, 2013 did not disappoint, as the temperature hovered just above zero for the ceremony to launch LCS 5, Mil- waukee, into the Menominee River at

Marinette Marine.

While the temperature was cold, the mood was not, as hundreds of dignitar- ies, shipyard workers and their families were on hand as the Lockheed Martin-led industry team commandeered the side launch of Milwaukee into the Menomi- nee River, which required icebreakers to work throughout the morning to create an ice-free space for the ship.

Marinette Marine builds the Freedom design, a semi-planing steel monohull designed to operate close to shore in the littoral, able to provide an array of fl exible and easy to switch out mission packages. Milwaukee measures 389 x 57 ft. with a 13.5 ft. draft and full load displacement of approximately 3400 metric tons. Courtesy of its combined diesel and gas turbine power plant driv- ing waterjets, its top speed is greater than 40 knots.

Central to both LCS designs is the re- duction of crew size with a correspond- ing increase in mission fl exibility. To this end, Milwaukee’s crew of 40 sailors can launch and recover watercraft in condi- tions to Sea State 4; and launch and re- cover aircraft in conditions to Sea State 5.

Milwaukee’s core self defense suite includes 3D air search radar, rolling airframe missile, medium caliber gun, electro-optical infrared gunfi re control system and a decoy launching system.

The ship’s sponsor was Mrs. Sylvia M.

Panetta, and speakers included Chuck

Goddard, President and CEO, Mari- nette Marine; Joe North, VP, Lockheed

Martin; VADM Tom Copeman, USN

Commander, Naval Surface Forces,

U.S. Pacifi c Fleet; and the Honorable

Sean Stackley, Assistant Secretary of the

Navy, Research, Development and Ac- quisition. “With the Milwaukee, Marinette

Marine Corporation is now in full se- rial LCS production, an exciting accom- plishment made possible by our skilled and dedicated workforce and our parent company, Fincantieri’s, investment of $100 million,” said Goddard

The U.S. Navy awarded the contract to construct Milwaukee in December 2010.

The ship is one of four LCS currently under construction at Marinette Marine.

Following christening and launch, Mil- waukee will continue to undergo outfi t- ting and testing before delivery to the

Navy in 2015.

The Lockheed Martin-led team de- signed and built USS Freedom (LCS 1) and USS Fort Worth (LCS 3). USS Free- dom recently departed from the U.S. 7th

Fleet following successful multi-nation-

By Greg Trauthwein

MR #1 (26-31).indd 28 1/7/2014 10:41:43 AM