The first U.S. Navy Littoral Combat Ship, Freedom (LCS 1), the inaugural ship in an entirely new class of U.S. Navy surface warships, is seen conducting a speed run during Builders Trials. The ship is designed for littoral, or close-to-shore, operations and to provide access and dominance in coastal-water areas. Photo provided courtesy Lockheed Martin
The first of the Navy's littoral combat ships, LCS-1 Freedom, got underway for builder trials on on July 28. Builder trials test the ship's propulsion, communications, navigation and mission systems.
The LCS is designed to defeat threats such as mines, quiet diesel submarines and fast surface craft.
"LCS is a transformational program. It provides the first capability we've had to really be able to perform in littoral regions the way we believe we're going to need to over the next many years given all the challenges that we see worldwide in littoral regions," said Secretary of the Navy, Donald C. Winter.
He went on to add that he wanted to make the visit to get a better feel of how the ship is coming along and make a statement of how important he thinks this program is. After the completion of builder trials, the Freedom crew will begin preparing for acceptance trials.