By Carlo Munoz
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Navy officials reviewing the circumstances surrounding the development of cracks on the first Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) during sea trials earlier this year plan to issue their report by the end of this month, according to the service’s LCS chief.
The service’s analysis of the USS Freedom (LCS-1) is now complete, and Navy officials were finalizing recommendations for Ïdesign and weld” improvements for the next Lockheed Martin [LMT]-built LCS vessel, USS Fort Worth (LCS-3) set for sea trials, as well as all future iterations of the ship, according to Capt. Jeff Reidel, LCS program manager.
Regarding the investigation into how cracks developed in the hull and superstructure of the LCS-1 ship last February, Reidel said the Navy Ïbelieves that that was an isolated incident” and was the result of poor workmanship on one of the welds, Reidel said after his Apr. 11 speech at the Navy League’s annual Sea, Air, Space symposium here.
ÏIt was a producability issue,” Reidel added, reinforcing earlier comments made by Lockheed Martin officials that the cracks were not the result of the ship’s inherent design (Defense Daily, April 12).
In December, the Navy awarded dual multimillion procurement deals to Lockheed Martin and Austal USA for LCS construction. Austal USA’s ship will be dubbed LCS-6 (Defense Daily, Jan. 4).
The 20-ship deal was split between the two offerers via separate 10-ship deals being awarded to both companies, with Lockheed Martin awarded $437 million for development and construction on its half of the LCS, and Austal USA getting $432 million for its portion of the build.
In February, the Navy was forced to suspend heavy sea trials on the LCS-1 after a three- to six-inch crack in the ship’s hull developed during the trials. In addition to the hull cracks, structural anomalies were also found in the ship’s main superstructure.
Since the suspension of sea tests for LCS-1, service officials have been reviewing the incident, with Lockheed Martin officials supporting the investigation by supplying the Navy with technical information, Joe North, vice president of the company’s Littoral Ship Systems, said during an April 8 briefing with reporters at the company’s offices in Arlington, Va.