Lcs Program Office News

The U.S. Navy has decided to delay by a year until fiscal 2020 the awarding of a design and construction contract for a planned new frigate, according to congressional testimony on Wednesday by two Navy rear admirals. The delay resulted from a decision to set up a frigate evaluation team to look at how to make the vessel more lethal and survivable, Rear Admirals Ron Boxall and John Neagley said in their prepared testimony. Navy analyses have determined that the U.S. fleet needs 53 small surface combat ships to supplement the larger aircraft carriers and destroyers, undertaking tasks like antisubmarine warfare and mine countermeasures.

The U.S. Navy’s littoral combat ship (LCS) USS Coronado (LCS 4) has completed survivability testing off the coast of California on January 28 in preparation for the ship's maiden deployment later this year. The purpose of the Total Ship Survivability Trial (TSST) is to evaluate the ship's systems and procedures following a simulated conventional weapon hit. The primary areas that are evaluated include the ship's ability to contain and control damage, restore and continue mission capability and care for personnel casualties.

Capt. Michael Taylor relieved Capt. Robert Crowe as commanding officer, Supervisor of Shipbuilding (SUPSHIP), Bath, during a ceremony at Bath Waterfront Park on Sept. As the 30th commanding officer, Taylor reports to SUPSHIP Bath after serving most recently as the test and evaluation director for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Program Office. Over the course of his 21-year career, he also served assignments with the Programming Division of the Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV N80), the Arleigh Burke-class Program Office, and the Personnel Exchange Program in Ottawa, Canada. A graduate of the University of South Carolina, he has also served aboard USS Anzio (CG 68).

Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) and Southwest Regional Maintenance Center (SWRMC) divers recently completed the first full underwater waterjet seal and evaluation on a littoral combat ship (LCS), USS Fort Worth (LCS 3), the Navy announced, Jan. LCS class ships are unique to the U.S. Navy because they use waterjets instead of propellers for propulsion. Each waterjet draws seawater in through a duct, increases the water's pressure and then ejects it, causing the ship to move.

Rolls-Royce delivered the Axial Mk1 waterjet for the latest Freedom-variant of the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) class, currently under construction for the U.S. Navy. This delivery marks the successful completion of the Office of Naval Research’s (ONR) Future Naval Capabilities (FNC) program for “Compact, High Power Density Waterjets”. This new  waterjet will now be standard equipment for all future Freedom variants of the Littoral Combat Ships supplied to the U.S. Navy by Lockheed Martin.

Rolls-Royce delivers advanced new Axial Mk1 waterjets for the latest US Navy Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). Rolls-Royce Axial Mk1 waterjets are very power dense, delivering more cavitation-free performance for their size and power than any other waterjet. At 22MW of power, a single waterjet of this scale can move almost half a million gallons of seawater per minute. Four of these waterjets will propel the LCS at speeds in excess of 40 knots. This delivery marks the successful completion of the Office of Naval Research's (ONR) Future Naval Capabilities (FNC) program for “Compact…