The Navy and manufacturer Lockheed Martin [LMT] have narrowed down the causes behind leaking on the first vessel in the class of Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) as it undergoes a dry docking in its homeport of San Diego, a company official said yesterday.
Joe North, Lockheed Martin’s vice president for the Littoral Combat Ship program, told reporters on a conference call that there were a “couple of things that look like may have been the cause” of the leaking on the USS Freedom (LCS-1). He would not disclose the problems pending a final review by the Navy.
The Freedom was placed into dry dock on Feb. 25 to repair a shaft seal that failed and caused the ship to take on water off the coast of California earlier that month.
Lockheed Martin is building the Freedom variance of the LCS class, while Austal USA produces the USS Independence version.
The Navy plans to deploy the LCS-1 to Singapore next year as the class of ships is expected to play a significant role the Obama administration’s revised military strategy that focuses on the Asia-Pacific region (Defense Daily, March 19).