Littoral Combat Ship USS Fort Worth Found Vulnerable to Attack Before Asia Deployment

By Tony Capaccio

(Bloomberg) — Weeks earlier than one of many U.S. Navy’s new Littoral Combat Ships departed for Asia, checks had uncovered its vulnerability to a possible enemy assault, based on the Pentagon’s testing workplace.

A “total ship survivability test” of the USS Fort Worth performed off of Southern California in October “highlighted the existence of significant vulnerabilities” within the design of vessels constructed by Lockheed Martin Corp., based on Michael Gilmore, the Pentagon’s director of fight testing.

“Much of the ship’s mission capability was lost because of damage caused” by the simulated results of a weapons assault and a hypothetical fireplace that adopted, Gilmore stated in an evaluation for Congress obtained by Bloomberg News.

While the Fort Worth has by no means been in fight, it had an encounter with a Chinese ship in disputed waters of the South China Sea in May. Gilmore’s report, mandated by lawmakers, could add extra congressional scrutiny of Navy price range requests for the Littoral Combat Ship, designed for missions in shallow coastal waters.

In 2014, then-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel truncated the unique program to 32 ships for an estimated $23 billion, citing “considerable reservations as to whether this is what our Navy will require over the next decades.” The Fort Worth is among the many 32 preliminary ships, comprised of various variations constructed by Lockheed and Australia-based Austal Ltd.

After a Navy examine, Hagel accepted a proposal to purchase an extra 20 ships after 2019 with improved armor, sensors and weapons. However, Gilmore has stated that the “minor modifications to the LCS will not yield a ship that is significantly more survivable.”

‘Validated’ Ability

Commander Thurraya Kent, a Navy spokeswoman, stated in an e- mail that the take a look at of the Fort Worth “validated the crew’s ability to perform as modeled” on computer systems, “which ultimately supports analysis that shows the ship meets its survivability requirements.”

With the Fort Worth now on a 16-month deployment to Asia that started in November, Gilmore’s report on its testing at sea, dated April 29, underscores the warship’s limitations.

The Littoral Combat Ship was conceived as tackling one activity at a time, with modules that might be swapped out for various missions corresponding to mine-clearing and anti-submarine or floor warfare.

A draft of a revised Navy idea of operations “indicates the Navy’s original vision of a nimble, mission-focused ship has been overcome by the realities of the multi-mission nature of naval warfare” in high-intensity conflicts, Gilmore wrote Defense Secretary Ashton Carter in a abstract memo, additionally on April 29.

Computer Models

In at-sea testing, pc fashions and engineering assessments are used to foretell injury to tools and buildings, the unfold of a hearth and flooding. The crew is then subjected to the results of kit shutdowns and battle injury.

Kent, the Navy spokeswoman, stated the take a look at on the Fort Worth “was a successful event that allowed the Navy to demonstrate that the inherent ship design features and applied LCS tactics, techniques and procedures provided the crew with the ability to contain damage, restore capability and care for personal casualties given the expected damage.”

Post-test evaluation “identified potential system, equipment and procedural improvements which could further enhance ship and crew survivability,” she stated.

But Gilmore’s unclassified abstract stated injury in the course of the simulated October take a look at “happened before the crew could respond and the ship does not have sufficient redundancy to recover the lost capability.”

“Some of the systems could be redesigned or reconfigured to make the ship less vulnerable” and sooner to get better from injury “without requiring major structural modifications,” he wrote.

Off Philippines

This week the Fort Worth is participating in a navy train within the Philippines off the east coast of Palawan Island, close to the South China Sea.

In the May incident, the vessel unexpectedly met a Chinese vessel close to the disputed Spratly islands. The ships exchanged codes to assist perceive one another and discuss by way of radio. It was the primary time one of many Littoral Combat Ships operated in waters across the islands, that are claimed by nations together with China, the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia.

Commander Rich Jarrett, the Fort Worth’s commanding officer, stated in an interview Monday from the ship moored at Palawan that he’s additionally sailed on the primary vessel of the category, the USS Freedom, since 2008. From that ship “to Fort Worth, we’ve made a number of substantial improvements,” he stated. “A lot of improvements to the machinery system.”

The first ship “went from cocktail napkin to commissioned warship in five years, which is unbelievably fast in terms of producing a new machine of this complexity,” Jarrett stated. “So there were a number of improvements that should have been made, just because it was built so fast,” he stated.

“We are loving life on Fort Worth because it is just so much improved,” Jarrett stated.

–With help from Sharon Chen in Singapore.